Bokutachi, Atashitachi
by Lumi
Summary: Taichi, Yamato, Koushiro, Takeru, and Ken were approached, and asked to pretend to be girls and go to an all-girl's school for a year, without being found out. Takari, Kenyako, Taiora, Mishiro (Koumi).
1. Chapter 0: This is us, today

Boku-tachi/Atashi-tachi  
  
Hello, this is the author's notes here. =p Anyway, this is not connected to the main storyline, therefore, an alternate universe. Various significant differences here are as follows:  
  
-The Digital World never occurred.  
  
-The boys don't know the girls (of the set of main characters in Digimon) before this story.  
  
-Taichi and Hikari are still siblings, they just don't know it.  
  
That's about it! Also, if you are only familiar with the names set out by the English dub, this guide would be of use to you.  
  
Japanese - English  
  
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Yagami Taichi - Tai Kamiya  
  
Ishida Yamato - Matt Ishida  
  
Takenouchi Sora - Sora Takenouchi (no change)  
  
Tachikawa Mimi - Mimi Tachikawa (no change)  
  
Takaishi Takeru - T.K. Takaishi  
  
Yagami Hikari - Kari Kamiya  
  
Izumi Koushiro - Izzy Izumi  
  
Kido Jyou - Joe Kido  
  
Ichijouji Ken - Ken Ichijouji (no change)  
  
Inoue Miyako - Yolie Miyako  
  
Motomiya Daisuke - Davis Motomiya  
  
Hida Iori - Cody Hida  
  
Note that although in Japanese names, the order of the names are inverted, but the way they place it is so that the last name comes first, and the first name comes last, so Yamato's first name wouldn't be Ishida in Japanese. ^^;  
  
This is a redone version, apparently, I couldn't use italics without having my document in HTML, which just kind of screws up all the spacing and whatnot, so from now on, I'll use // to denote thoughts, and of course, the [ ] brackets to define the not-so-obvious situations where you're not sure who's thinking what.  
  
Well. This first chapter is a bit unrelated to the main plot of this story, but it's an important take-off. Anyway, read on, and do review. To me, every review counts, so please review. =)  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon, or any thing else officially related to it - aside from purely fictional ideas which I have inserted in to this fiction and is not in Digimon - which is owned by Toei. And it will continue to stay that way until I get rich enough to buy Toei. Which I will not.  
  
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Prelude- Chapter 0: This is us, today.  
  
"Too bad Iori and Jyou couldn't come." sighed Takeru, his eyes wandering in boredom.  
  
"Those two guys are stiffs anyway, plus, it would be worse if we brought them to the mall." Taichi shook his head.  
  
Yamato sat quietly. "I guess."  
  
Koushiro suddenly stood up from his seat. "Come on, guys, we have a break, and the days until school comes and depleting quickly, let's spend this time having fun!" he said enthusiastically.  
  
Stare.  
  
"Never mind." Koushiro said as he sat back down.  
  
"I think it's about time I left. The stupid coach wants us to practice over the break, so we have to go back to school to have practices, plus, he said he'd kick me out of the team from being late last time, so I'd have to go and meet that old bastard now." Daisuke grumbled.  
  
"Oh, that's too bad, Daisuke." Ken said, frowning.  
  
Taking his bag, he stood up and started walking away from the table. After five steps, he turned around.  
  
"Bye." he waved.  
  
Everyone else chorused. "Bye."  
  
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"Say, why don't you have basketball practice?" Yamato poked Takeru.  
  
"Well, it's just that since they fired that other teacher, so that this teacher became the coach for both the teams, and whenever there's a soccer practice, there can't be a basketball practice." Takeru shrugged.  
  
"Oh. Okay."  
  
"......."  
  
More silence.  
  
Taichi banged the table. "We can't stay like this any longer, I'll go walk around, you guys do whatever you want!" And he ran off.  
  
Koushiro looked at everyone's blank faces, then said, "Hmm. Come to think of it. I should go change my RAM in my laptop. I'll go to that computer store to see if there's any for sale."  
  
"Well. In that case. I'll go look at the guitars." Yamato said as he coolly walked off.  
  
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"That leaves the two of us sitting here like idiots." Takeru skillfully described the situation.  
  
"Does that mean.......?" Ken glanced at the glitter in Takeru's eyes.  
  
Ken clenched his fist in a fit of passion and excitement, as he and Takeru stood up at the same time.  
  
"Let's go find some girls!" They unisoned.  
  
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Takeru and Ken wandered aimlessly down the infinite grounds of the shopping mall, unsure of where their target might hide. They both glanced at the stores, each at their own side, whether that stores has girls.  
  
"Where might they be?" Takeru frowned.  
  
".....The Sanrio gift shop?" Ken shrugged.  
  
"Really. And how do we convince them that we're not pedophiles, gay, have a girlfriend, or something, going into a Sanrio gift shop." Takeru scoffed.  
  
Ken scratched his head. "We could say that we're getting gifts for our sisters."  
  
"You know that you lie as well as Jyou does."  
  
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"We'll use a psychological algorithm to find the solution!" Ken suggested.  
  
"Right. Hmm." Takeru bit his finger as he pondered. "We must find girls that also want to find guys, or else, they most likely will slap you before you get in 5 yards of their radius."  
  
"And therefore, if they also want to find guys, then they will most likely approach locations in which guys dwell." explained Ken as he took a sheet of the mall map from his pocket.  
  
Takeru took a pen out of his pocket instantaneously when he saw the map, the pulled the cap off.  
  
"And it would be.....places like.....the arcade. Here." mumbled Takeru as he circled big thick ellipses on the map. "And the computer store.....right here. As well as the sports store here. And here, here. Here. And.....here."  
  
"Right!" Ken said triumphantly as he held the map in light.  
  
"Wait."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Aren't these the places we usually go to?"  
  
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"Sigh.....I guess we have no luck today." Takeru holds both his hands behind him.  
  
"Hmm?" Ken questioned himself, finding both he and Takeru reaching the end of the mall. It seems as they ran out of places to walk to, there is more, but that would on the other side of the food court, where they departed. Travelling back and forth is not the most entertaining passtime, afterall.  
  
Takeru stared at the ceiling. Then at the pensive Ken. Feeling nothing of interest, he looked in front of him. A series of connecting pieces of glass rather than a wall, and in the middle, a door. Above it, an old wooden sign, with fancy type letters engraved onto it. 'Glass Café'. He found his sight to travel past the windows, and into the small café. All tables and chair sets are in light colours that compliment each other, but every set is different. The glass acts like crystals, dividing sunlight into respective colours, each shining upon a section in the café.  
  
"....."  
  
"You want to go in and get a drink?" Ken asked.  
  
"Hmm.....yeah."  
  
Takeru opened the door hesitantly, and went inside. His eyes scanned everywhere thoroughly as he walked further inside. Some force had suddenly repelled him backwards.  
  
"Ah....."  
  
//I just walked straight into someone. I have to remind myself to kick myself when I get home.  
  
"Sorry!"  
  
"Woah, surround sound." Ken joked.  
  
Takeru shook his head and took a clear look at the situation. After all, he felt, just saying sorry and walking away seems a bit rude.  
  
"No, it was my fault, since I walked into you blindly-" Takeru caught himself cut off by seeing who he was apologizing to.  
  
"Oh, no, it's okay, it's my fault too for not paying attention." said the waitress, smiling brightly.  
  
To Takeru, this waitress is the prettiest girl he had ever seen, aside maybe some of the stars he had seen on television. Bright amber eyes, with a fine nose and thin lips, within a well shaped face. A clip lightly maintains her brown hair from its original shape. The casual pink and white clothing she wears outlines her slender figure, but doesn't display her waitress status. At a more right section of her chest area, a tag with "Yagami Hikari" is placed on her shirt.  
  
Takeru's current dokidoki level: 139%  
  
(Note: Dokidoki stands for the imitation of heartbeat in Japanese, so, simply, it means heartbeat.)  
  
"For two?" Hikari asked Takeru.  
  
"Oh.....umm. Ye.....yeah." Takeru stuttered, unsure of what to answer, but know that he answered correctly once he cleared his head.  
  
"Oh.....umm....." Hikari turned around and looked clumsily around the tables, and let out a small smile when she found an unoccupied table, took two menus off the stack, turned back around, smiled, and started walking towards the table.  
  
Takeru and Ken silently followed her.  
  
"Here you are!" Hikari happily put down the menu on a four-seated table, and left to the counter and deliver some drinks to other customers.  
  
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"She's pretty cute, isn't she?" Ken poked Takeru. Multiple times.  
  
"Huh.....yeah. Very."  
  
"You seem zoned out. No matter, let's order something to drink." Ken said as he took one of the colourful menus.  
  
"Yeah. Let's." Takeru replied in monotone.  
  
At that point, both Ken and Takeru were dizzied by the large list in the menu, as it had coffee, the different tastes and scents of different coffee, and the same with everything else. Everything was purely potable.  
  
Insert 5 minutes of silence here  
  
Hikari walks by, seeing as they haven't ordered anything yet,  
  
"Hmm.....I think I'll have....." Takeru muttered as his finger trailed down the menu list, then promptly stopped. "Lemon tea."  
  
"And I'll take the apple coffee." Ken said quickly as he returned his menu to Hikari.  
  
Hikari roughly scribbled on her paperpad, then said, "Okay, I'll be back with your drinks in a second." Smiling as she walked away.  
  
Stare.  
  
"What? What are you staring at me for?" Ken looked back at Takeru, somewhat concerned about his own safety.  
  
"Apple coffee?"  
  
"Yeah? What about it?"  
  
"I mean, apple coffee?"  
  
"I'm not trying to act mature or anything, I mean, any of us have tried coffee, just not everyone of us are regular drinkers, and apple coffee sounds kind of interesting, so I thought I'd try it....." Ken explained thoroughly, attempting to take that stare off of himself.  
  
"Hmph." Takeru turned so that he was not facing Ken. Although staring at him was abnormal already, since Ken was sitting right in front-opposite of Takeru, it could be somewhat reasoned, but turning so that he no longer faced Ken made it obvious of his purpose.  
  
"You're just angry because my drinking coffee makes you look like a sissy in front of that waitress." Ken mocked.  
  
Takeru silently agrees.  
  
Unexpectedly, Hikari almost dashes to their table, and neatly place the drink in front of their respective owners, says, "Here you go!", and dashes off. However, she suddenly froze her movements, and turned around, and walked back to the table.  
  
"Oh.....we don't have any more tables, do you mind if another customer sits here?" Hikari asked nervously, her fingers fidgeting behind her back.  
  
"Umm.....sure, I guess....." Takeru answered, temporarily removing his lips from the straw to the lemon tea.  
  
"Okay, thanks!" said Hikari gratefully as she jumped a little. She then walked away to guide someone else to a table. Takeru sealed his lips back to the straw, occasionally sipping.  
  
"You're staring." Ken observed.  
  
"I know." mumbled Takeru, biting the straw. His eyes trailed Hikari as she half-ran to the entrance and spoke with a lavender haired girl. Their conversation was surprisingly long, Takeru concluded that they are friends, to the least. Eventually, he noticed that Hikari started leading the girl to his current table, and he quickly directed his eyes back to Ken.  
  
"Here you are!" Hikari put down a menu similarly as to before, took a step back, smiled at the girl, and returned to the counter. Although Takeru distinctly saw Hikari winking at the girl.  
  
Ken watched as the girl sat beside him - she could either sit beside Ken or Takeru, it being a four seated table, and Ken and Takeru sitting on opposite sides and all - and stood up again to position herself properly on the seat.  
  
The girl had long lavender hair, its colour reflecting the light lightly, and her big round glasses making her eyes seem small, although that would not be the case without the glasses, and overall more average facial features. She wears darker coloured clothes, a purple short sleeved shirt and longer pants of blue.  
  
"Hello, I'm Inoue Miyako." she greeted Ken, then faced Takeru, then turned back to Ken again.  
  
"What's your name?" Miyako asked, almost as an automatic reaction after saying her name.  
  
"Oh.....my name is Ichijouji Ken." Ken answered slowly, almost as if he made an error.  
  
"Hmm hmm. Ichijouji Ken, I've heard of you, then again. I don't think there's anyone that hasn't. You're that smart kid, right?" Miyako remarked, her elbow on the table, and her finger pointing at Ken.  
  
"Uh.....um. Yes."  
  
"You must feel tough, having to keep up with standards and expectations." Miyako patted Ken's shoulder with her other arm. Of course, Ken felt weird being approached with such familiarity from a stranger.  
  
"Umm.....yes." Certainly, he also felt the least bit stunned by it. Meanwhile, Miyako turned to face Takeru.  
  
"And you, what's your name?"  
  
"It's Takaishi Takeru." He said more confidently than Ken, but with still some holdback.  
  
"Nice to meet you."  
  
"Nice to meet you."  
  
There was this difference in which Miyako treated them. Ken noticed that, although the differences became more bland as he tried to identify it; it simply reverted back to 'friendliness' for both of them.  
  
Miyako's eyes slowly scanned around the table. She chuckled, seeing Ken's coffee, as if saying, "Pretending to be a big boy, aren't we?". Ken turned around to face the window, preventing anymore embarassment.  
  
"You know, my friend owns this place....." Miyako said, trying to dig out more words from either of the silent boys.  
  
"Miyako-chaaaan!" Hikari ran to their table. Her tag was missing. "I'm ready, let's go, Miyako-chan."  
  
"Okay." Miyako stood up and started walking to the exit with Hikari, but stopped suddenly to reach her hands in her pocket. She turned around and expertly threw two cards at Takeru and Ken each, who catched it easily.  
  
"Call me sometime." Miyako winked, then continued to the exit.  
  
The card was somewhat designed like a business card, but only not. In the middle is a picture of both Miyako and Hikari, then their address and phone number, along with their names.  
  
//[Ken] I never knew you could make cards like these.  
  
//[Takeru] I wonder how many times she practiced to be able to throw cards like that.  
  
Looking to another waitress, Takeru gestured for the bill.  
  
The waitress approached them.  
  
"It's already been paid for."  
  
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"It's pretty late already." Ken read his watch.  
  
"Let's go find onii-san and Taichi and them at the mall entrance." (onii-san = older brother)  
  
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"Geez. You two sure took your time." Taichi commented disapprovingly.  
  
Yamato slightly brushed his hair. "Anyway, we should go home now. It's getting kind of late, it's not like the mall will stay open forever."  
  
Koushiro, Ken, and Takeru nodded.  
  
"Wait." rang an unfamiliar voice.  
  
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"So, using your big muscular men, constraining us, then driving us here in a Mercedes Benz has, to the least, confused us. Mind to explain?" Koushiro crossed his legs, trying to put on a more intellectual impression, in order to, somehow, intimidate whoever that woman is standing in the room with them.  
  
"I have a proposal for you."  
  
"I hope you don't present all of your proposals this way, or else your clients would feel, what you call it, threatened." said Ken, minorly being aggressive.  
  
The light shadow, in the dark room, of the woman seems to move across the room, the her hand pulling on a certain string, causing the curtains to raise.  
  
It was a circular room. With little windows surrounding the room, and, from what could be seen, guards are placed at even distances to the next around the room, arranged in such a fashion that it represents the numbers of a clock.  
  
"Any further remarks may place unpleasant events in occurance."  
  
Koushiro kicked Ken.  
  
Taichi kicked Ken.  
  
Yamato kicked Ken.  
  
Takeru kicked Ken.  
  
"Anyway, my point is quite simple. I shalt reward you each with 150000000 yen (approximately 1.3 million US dollars) if you dress and act as girls, and live in the Sakura all-girls' school's dormitory, and of course, go to their school, for one year without having your true gender discovered." the woman briefly explained.  
  
"And of course, we'll have secret cameras watching you and all that, and the process will be broadcasted on national television." she added.  
  
The boys gulped.  
  
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Well, that's the first chapter, it's not straight to the point, but the chapters in the future will deal more with the main idea. And please review, every review counts and encourages me to write more. =D  
  
By the way, most characters haven't shown up yet in this chapter, since it's more introductory, they will show up more when it gets more into the story. 


	2. Chapter 01: What becomes of us tomorrow?

Boku-tachi/Atashi-tachi  
  
Hello everyone again! This chapter won't be as funny as the last chapter (as if the last chapter was funny), I think, it's more dramatic for development and whatnot. I don't know, I'll see whatever things I think up when I write. But anyway, the notes are just about that, if you don't understand something in this fiction, or don't know the names, please refer to the notes in the previous chapter, and if that doesn't help.....drop it in the review box or send me an e-mail.  
  
Oh. And this.  
  
Disclaimer: Digimon is not mine, and all that weird stuff I said in the disclaimer before this one.  
  
Prelude - Chapter 0.1: What becomes of us tomorrow?  
  
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"So, basically, to say, you kid-......captur-......brought us here, in order so that we agree to act like girls for a year, so you can tape it and broadcast it nationally." Yamato concluded.  
  
"That's quite right." The woman, who now can be seen clearly - and looked less threatening than the boys have thought -, said.  
  
Taichi banged, what apparently, was a table in front of him, and shouted. "What kind of joke is this? I won't take this kind of prank!"  
  
The woman reached in her inner breast pocket of her jacket, and pulled out a card, which is now resting on the table.  
  
Takeru slowly recited the words on the card.  
  
"Himiharu Rumiko....."  
  
"Executive manager....."  
  
".....Tokyo TV."  
  
(Note that Tokyo TV station is purely fictional, I'm not sure if it exists or not, but I just made it up to seem all powerful and that, but if it does exist, I'm disclaiming it here.)  
  
Sweatdrops.  
  
Murmurs.  
  
"Tokyo TV, isn't that the big national television station?" Ken whispered.  
  
"Yeah, it is, and it was also responsible for a quite a few popular J- dramas." Koushiro answer and added.  
  
"Holy shit, then she's the real deal?" Taichi muttered, but not quietly enough so that Rumiko couldn't hear.  
  
Takeru started shivering, in both excitement and fear. "Then this is no joke, there really is hundreds of millions of dollars in this."  
  
"But we have to pretend to be girls for a year, in a girl dorm, and still, not be discovered our true identity." Yamato sighed.  
  
Sticking his head away from the gathered group, Koushiro questioned, "Could you tell us more of the details?"  
  
Rumiko backed up a few steps, and then sat down on a relatively large chair.  
  
"Basically, our ratings are suffering lately. We need something that would keep people watching. Our brilliant producers thought up this idea, and basically, we grabbed the most appropriate group of boys we could find, and apparently, you are them." Rumiko said calmly.  
  
"Go on."  
  
"Anyway, your job is to stay in the Sakura all-girl school for a year, and in which you will also be living in their dormitory. We will try our best to assist you in certain situations, and we will prepare you so that you do look like girls. Of course, we will be constantly in contact by means of a small device installed in your ear and mouth. Don't worry, you won't even notice it, and we'll remove it after the year is over. But in most of all, we'd like you to obey our orders. Certainly, hiding in a corner, being loners will easily assist you, but that will result in disqualification. Of course, we will record the whole year's process, cut out certain scenes, and broadcast them."  
  
"And how do you suppose that you record us? Place video cameras on us?" Koushiro scoffed.  
  
Rumiko flinged a bit of her hair back. "No, we have these insect like cameras by which we will find experts to operate and observe you."  
  
Mutters.  
  
"Aren't those things the high technology things?"  
  
"I heard they were used to spy in wars."  
  
"Crazy bitch."  
  
Mutters.  
  
"I heard that." Rumiko threw a killing glance at the boys. "Anyway, we're not forcing you to agree. We'll let you go back first, think is over and deal with whatever."  
  
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Taichi blinked a few times, trying to relieve his eyes of an itch without using his hands.  
  
"I couldn't believe they blindfolded us on the ride back as well." Yamato shook his head.  
  
"Well....." Takeru said, his head looking down.  
  
"I guess....." Ken continued for him.  
  
"This is it." Koushiro sighed.  
  
The five boys walked in separate directions from where they once gathered, and left with weighted thoughts in their mind.  
  
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"What's wrong, Ken, you're not eating much." Ken's mother observed.  
  
The dishes tonight were not Ken's absolute favourites, but he usually enjoyed them over most other dishes. The rice in his bowl was only rearranged by moving his chopsticks in the rice, and not actually eaten.  
  
"Okaa-san. Otou-san. How would you feel if I was not here for an entire year?" Ken asked, silencing both his mother and father.  
  
"Ken! Is someone threatening to take you away? Kidnap you? Oh no!" Ken's mother suddenly became quite hysterical, and tears started to form at her eyes.  
  
"Nonono, Okaa-san. It's different. It's.....that what if I'm willing for that?" Ken corrected carefully, but he know that saying that will break his mother's heart ever further.  
  
"Are you saying you want to move out, Ken?" Ken's father's voice had become strict.  
  
Ken violently shook his head. "It's.....not like that. It's not like I want to, but, it's just that-"  
  
"Are you saying you want to move out?" Ken's father's voice grew louder.  
  
Ken bit his lips. "Yes."  
  
A sigh.  
  
"Your okaa-san and I will think about it."  
  
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"How's the patient doing?"  
  
"Her status is critical, if we can't find an organ donor soon, I'm afraid....."  
  
Ken's eyes stared blankly at the television screen, his eyes reflecting the image. It was his own television. It was certainly smaller, not to mention less channels. But he preferred to watch it in his own room.  
  
//I wonder if it was right doing that. After all, it's not like a life long dream of mine to become a girl. If I do succeed, the money might just go to okaa-san and otou-san. They don't need that much money.  
  
Flick.  
  
"And that's why, I use Spiffer!"  
  
Flick.  
  
"All of you don't know nothin'! Go (bleep) your (bleep)'s (bleep bleep bleep)!"  
  
//And it's probably more difficult than it sounds. I'm not up for it.  
  
"So you're admitting you cloned yourself, then slept with the clone?"  
  
//People are getting more ridiculous these days, there's no reason I should follow them, is there?  
  
Flick.  
  
"Nobody needs me. Everyone should die."  
  
Flick.  
  
//I'm just in one spot. Staying here forever.  
  
Credits music.  
  
//Perhaps.....I should change that.  
  
Knocking.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Could we come in, Ken?" His father's voice rang through the door.  
  
"Sure."  
  
The door creaked amply as it was opened. Although the door was opened, both Ken's father and mother remained standing in the same spot.  
  
"Ken. Are you certain you want to go?" Ken's father asked.  
  
"I don't know."  
  
"Will you be happy there?"  
  
".....I don't know."  
  
Glances at the ground.  
  
Ken's father opened his lips, as if to say something, but closed it, then opened it again.  
  
"We think you're mature enough to be on your own. If you don't think that you like the circumstances, you're welcome back anytime." Ken's father said, looked a bit relieved.  
  
".....Thank you, otou-san, okaa-san."  
  
Ken's mother just stands behind, slightly sobbing and smiling. "You've grown up so much....."  
  
"Teletubbies, is coming up next."  
  
//I have to kill the fucks that imported Teletubbies over, and broadcasted it at night.  
  
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"Okaa-san?"  
  
"Yes, Takeru?"  
  
"Oh.....um.....nothing." Takeru mumbled as he went into his room, closing the door after he did.  
  
Takeru felt more relaxed than before, but less than usual, lying on the bed, holding his hand up, which gently holds the card given to him by Miyako yesterday. His eyes scanning Hikari's picture.  
  
//Yagami Hikari.....wait. Isn't Taichi's last name Yagami as well? Hmm. Although I don't think Yagami is too common of a last name, it's not too rare either. I suppose it's just a coincidence.  
  
//Huh.....? This is.....  
  
"Takeruuuu." Takeru's mother, Natsuko called.  
  
"Coming."  
  
Routinely, he got off his bed, opened the door, and went out to the rest of the house. Whatever brightness left in his eyes disappeared when he saw Natsuko frantically packing several pieces of clothing into a suitcase.  
  
"Sorry, dear, there's a commotion in Paris, I have to go there." Natsuko explained as she continued to pack, her eyes not laying on Takeru.  
  
"It's okay." Takeru was not surprised.  
  
"I also have some things to do there, as well as in Milan, so it might take a while before I come back. Three months maximum."  
  
"Okaa-san?" Takeru said with a voice smaller than usual.  
  
"What is it, dear?" Natsuko's eyes still focused on packing.  
  
"I'm going to live with onii-san for a year. Take your time in France." Takeru emotionlessly said as he walked back to his room.  
  
"Yamato, huh..... At least you'll be taken care of." Natsuko sadly replied, unsure to Takeru or herself.  
  
"Yeah." Takeru voiced behind the door of his room.  
  
//Huh.....I remember there was something shocking before I left the room..... I probably just thought up something about the last name 'Yagami' or something.  
  
Takeru placed the card on his desk, then lied on the bed, staring at the immobile ceiling.  
  
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"I'm back." Taichi announced.  
  
"Mmm." was the answer from his father, drunk and lying on the sofa.  
  
Staring with disgusted eyes, Taichi opened the closet, grabbed a blanket, and covered his father. He then walked to the perpendicularly adjacent couch, and sat down on it.  
  
"Ne, otou-san. How come you're always like this. You've been like this ever since you and okaa-san divorced, which was when I was so young I could barely remember it. I've been taking care of you all this time. All you do is get drunk and come back every night, saying how much you love okaa-san." Taichi recalled with a disappointed look on his face.  
  
Taichi then stood up. "I'm going away for a year. You'll either learn to support yourself, or you're just going to lie in the streets, drunk or dead."  
  
He started walking towards his room, but stopped in the middle. Turning around, looking at his father, he strolled to the counter, picking up the phone.  
  
Tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap.  
  
"Hello, Jyou? I'm going to be away for quite a while. Could you just come by once a week and just see how my otou-san is doing? I'll leave the keys in your mailbox....."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Koushiro fidgeted. "Okaa-san, otou-san, I have something to tell you-"  
  
He was cut off.  
  
"I know, dear, those TV people mentioned it to us today, you know, since we thought they were stalking you, and we confronted them, threatening to report them to the police." Koushiro's mother laughed.  
  
"Isn't that great, son, being on national television as a girl!" Koushiro's father laughed along.  
  
Koushiro shuddered, feeling the genuineness of their words.  
  
"And you're.....okay, with that?" Koushiro asked his hyper parents, not-so- hyperly.  
  
"Sure."  
  
"As long as you're happy, dear." Koushiro's mother petted Koushiro's head. Koushiro hates it when she does that, but they had an agreement that she could do it whenever she wants until he grows tall enough to be out of her reach, which, currently, he has not accomplished.  
  
"Anyway, pack up tonight, you'll need lots more things to become a pretty girl tomorrow."  
  
Koushiro sweatdropped.  
  
//Dammit, just because I'm a supporting character doesn't mean the author could butcher my scenario like this!  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"You're home early, otou-san." Yamato closed and locked the door as he entered the house.  
  
"Yeah. I got fired." Yamato's father said with relative ease.  
  
"What?!"  
  
"Today, one of the CEOs came down, and insisted we change things around this way and that way. Of course, we had to obey. Apparently, that screwed up the whole day's programs. Someone has got to take responsibility." He gestured with his hands, as if no big deal.  
  
"Don't worry, you'll find another job soon." Yamato said as he threw his keys on to the desk behind him without looking, and opened the refrigerator.  
  
"Haha, yeah. It'll just be like a vacation or something."  
  
Yamato threw his father a beer with one hand, and reached in to the refrigerator to grab another.  
  
"You're underage, you know." Yamato's father said as he pulled on the tab of the can.  
  
"Since when did that matter to you?" Yamato laughed as he did the same.  
  
"Ne, otou-san? I'm going to be away for a year or so."  
  
"Hmm? Why? Expanding your career?"  
  
".....You could say that."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
It was a plain white room for practice. Although it's plain in order to not distract practices, the colour itself was moving enough to distract by itself.  
  
"You're here, Yamato." Hajime said as he threw his bag on the ground, and grabbed a guitar off the rack.  
  
Hajime, a friend of Yamato's.  
  
"Yeah, I am. Apparently." Yamato mocked as he continued to strum his guitar, his left hand switching to different chord shapes.  
  
Hajime is the supporting guitar for their band, the Teenage Wolves.  
  
"So, how'd you do on that test at the tutor's today?" Yamato asked, with slight curiosity.  
  
Hajime was a strange person.  
  
Plugging in his guitar, Hajime played the chords, B, A, then D in quick succession.  
  
Hajime was that kind of person.  
  
"I can't ever understand why you won't say something normally." Yamato looked at him strangely, which is the same with every time he tried to spelt out his answers with chords.  
  
Hajime started playing random chords at the same pace of Yamato, sometimes creating a pleasant harmony, sometimes creating cacophonous conflict between sounds.  
  
"Isn't it so nice to try to extend the articulation of communication between people? Anyway, what's wrong?"  
  
Yamato looked this slightest bit shocked, but then retained his normal expression.  
  
"How do you know?"  
  
"You're playing variation chords, 7ths, 6ths, suspensions, minors, whatnot. You try to unload your complex emotions into complex chords when you're troubled." Hajime explained, like it was logic.  
  
Yamato slightly smiled. "Are you in my fan club or what?"  
  
"So, what's the problem?" Hajime put down his guitar.  
  
"I'm going to be away for a year. Look after the band for me."  
  
"Sure."  
  
"You answered quite quickly and swiftly."  
  
"I trust that you'll be back after doing whatever you do. You wouldn't leave us here. I'm sure that the band will be somewhat effected.....but, it'll be okay." Hajime predicted with a gentle expression on his face. "Anyway, why don't you go and get yourself a girlfriend or something, there's plenty of your fans to pick from."  
  
"Nah. I'm not that interested in them." Yamato flipped some of his hair back, which has become a habit.  
  
Hajime picked up his guitar, then played the chords F, A, G.  
  
"I'm going to kill you."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"So, have you a decision?" Rumiko looked at the five boys, standing side by side, as if posing.  
  
"Wait, don't answer. Look at this first." She threw a big thick stack of paper.  
  
(Due to the lack of the author's knowledge upon contracts, this will look nothing like one.)  
  
Koushiro picked up the stack of papers, and flipped through the first few pages, carefully reading every single word and its possible meanings, then passed it along.  
  
( By signing this, you agree to crossdress and attend to the Sakura all-girl school for a year under conditions listed below.  
  
You must obey all orders issued by the operator and various workers; otherwise, disqualification may take place, depending on the decision of the operator.  
  
You will receive 150000000 yen upon succession.  
  
You will be disqualified upon anyone knowing of your identity in the Sakura school, except for various people that has already been contacted about it, within the year.  
  
Romantic with anyone in the school, aside from one another in the group, is recommended. Your amount of reward will be doubled if a stable romantic relationship is maintained by the end of the year. )  
  
"Hmm, but in order to have a romantic relationship, whoever you're having the relationship with has to know your true identity, right? So that makes them exempt from statement #4." Ken logically interpreted.  
  
Rumiko bit her lower lip for a while, then replied. "The contract doesn't say that, does it?"  
  
The same horrifying thought struck all the boys at the same time.  
  
//A.....lesbian relationship?  
  
"Before we do anything, I'd like to say that this is not a competition. It would be much more effective if you helped each other. Even if one is found out and disqualified, your rewards will not increase. Furthermore, if someone in your group is found out, it would be most likely that people will suspect others in the group as well."  
  
"Anyway, basically, those are the rules you abide by, and we'll try to help you if we want to. Sign the copy of the contract in front of you to agree, or else you can leave by the side door." Rumiko pointed.  
  
The boys looked at each other with serious stares, never before as serious.  
  
Nod.  
  
Flip.  
  
Scribble.  
  
"Alright. Let's get prepared."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Well, this chapter was a bit far off than funny than I expected. No matter, everything after this should be more like the first chapter. The next chapters will be a seven part mini series about preparation.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Next time:  
  
Prelude: Chapter 0.2 - Seven Days (Day 1/A Girl's Body)  
  
Everyone gets a redo on their body, after all, who could give an impression of a girl with just a girly face and without a girl's slender body?  
  
"Ahhhhhhhhhh! I'll fucking kill you fucking asshats!" Taichi screamed in pain.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
And remember, review, review, review. Even if you've reviewed already. 


	3. Chapter 02: Seven days: Day 1: A Girl's ...

Boku-tachi/Atashi-tachi  
  
Harro everyone. Up coming will be 7 mini-chapters about the preparation before the actual move in to the girl's dormitory, and it will explain a little bit more. The length of the chapters will range from short to super- short, so they won't nearly be as long as the other chapters.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon, that's all. Damn, I'm getting witless on these disclaimers.  
  
Prelude - Chapter 0.2: Seven Days (Day 1/A Girl's Body)  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Let's get ready." Rumiko said, walking over to the opposite side of the room from where the door is, and opened another door that hasn't been opened before. "We'll get you set up."  
  
Yamato took a small step, then stopped. "I have a favour to ask you."  
  
Rumiko sighed, from being once again stopped from starting. "What is it?"  
  
"I hope that you could give my father a job. He works in a TV station, but was fired only beca-"  
  
Rumiko cut him off by signalling it by holding out her hand like a traffic officer would, she used her other hand to snap her fingers.  
  
"Kei!"  
  
A young man, looking only around the age of 20, with very light brown hair, almost like if it was dyed, and with quite a handsomely gentle face turned on the laptop that was on the table, and typed very quickly into it.  
  
"Ready." Kei responded.  
  
"Last name, Ishida, District, Odaiba, report work status." She ordered firmly.  
  
Kei's fingers quickly pressed into various keys of the keyboard, but only made a light tapping sound on the laptop keyboard.  
  
"A superior worker, skilful and hard working. Familiar with procedures and able to arrange in excellence. Dismissal code SG." Kei recited from the computer screen.  
  
Rumiko sucked her lips in a little, and bit slightly. "Alright. We'll take him. Anyone else with anymore requests?"  
  
Silence.  
  
Koushiro took a step out so that he stands beside Yamato.  
  
"I....."  
  
He looks at the ground, the ceiling, the walls, Kei, who stares back at him, Rumiko, everywhere.  
  
"Want the End of Evangelion DVD set."  
  
Takeru jumped out instantaneously. "And I want Karekano!"  
  
Rumiko turned speechless, her eyes looking up, which clearly reflects "Oh my god.".  
  
"Kei, contact Gainax."  
  
"I'll be on it."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Wait here." Kei said, going into a room after leading the boys into a plain looking, but large resting room.  
  
Each of them helped themselves to a chair around the table.  
  
"This place sure is big." Taichi observed.  
  
Koushiro shook his head against that remark. "Usually, most rooms like these in television stations are of about at least some size like this, but it's hard to believe they would let us be in one, that means they're spending relative budget on this project."  
  
Ken nodded to Koushiro's prediction. "I guessed about the same, but I based my guess upon the one hundred fifty million yen prize money."  
  
"I had no idea it was this big of a deal, maybe I should be a bit more serious about this." Takeru frowned, his head resting on his arm.  
  
Ken smiled a little. "Even though I knew, I couldn't possibly prepare myself for such a thing."  
  
Yamato closed his eyes. "That makes all of us." "Oi." Kei said to himself as he came back into the room with a ridiculously large amount of clothes, each set sealed in a clear plastic wrap, which he put all on the table.  
  
Carefully, he picked up a package of the clothes, and analyzed it carefully, then handed it to Yamato. "This one is.....yours." And he did the same for everyone else.  
  
Kei pointed towards the door behind him. "Go through that door in the middle, you'll find five dressing rooms, go in and change, I'll meet you in the photo studio which is through the other exit from the main dressing room.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Gulp.  
  
Opening of different doors.  
  
Closing doors at different times.  
  
Plastic wrap sounds.  
  
Sounds of clothes falling onto the ground.  
  
//[Taichi] Wow, these clothes are pretty cool.  
  
//[Koushiro] Woah, they're dressing me up like a goth. Not that this looks bad.  
  
//[Ken] This set of clothing is completely asymmetrical! .....But it makes strangely good taste.  
  
//[Takeru] This shirt and pants are too big, it makes me look.....hmm. Pretty cute.  
  
//[Yamato] This feels too skimpy.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Everyone ready?" Kei asked, standing behind the photographer.  
  
"Wait, wait, what's this about?" Taichi shouted, as he felt he needed due to this distance between him and Kei, but caused a rather large echo.  
  
"Oh, yeah. Anyway, we're going to take a bunch of pictures of you, and then we're going to sell them once we broadcast the show as limited edition photo collections." Kei explained.  
  
"And who made you in charge?" Ken questioned offensively.  
  
"Didn't Rumiko-sama tell you that I'm the supervisor of this project?"  
  
Shaking heads.  
  
"Oh. Well, I am. Oh yeah, I'm Makimura Kei, nice to meet you all."  
  
Sweatdrop.  
  
"Anyway, let's go." Kei clapped his hands twice, noting for them to get ready.  
  
Click.  
  
Yamato, his hands in his pockets, looking away from the camera coolly.  
  
Click.  
  
Koushiro, simply standing there without much pose, his outer lip sticking out a little, seemingly to pout.  
  
Click.  
  
Ken, tilting his head slightly at an angle, a hand resting by his legs, and another, stretched out slightly diagonally downwards.  
  
Click.  
  
Takeru, both his hands touching the back of neck, his elbows pointing skywards, and his eyes also seem to look up.  
  
Click.  
  
Taichi, one of his eyes closed, winking, one hand in his pocket, the other in front of him, doing a V sign.  
  
"All of you together."  
  
Click.  
  
"Oh.....um....." Kei was going to say something, but was lost in his own train of thought.  
  
"Oh, right, Taichi?"  
  
"What?" Taichi asked back, slightly curious at what Kei will ask.  
  
"Do you mind if Yamato puts his hand in your shirt?"  
  
Face fault.  
  
"Whaaaaaat?"  
  
Kei scratches his head through his thick hair. "Oh, um, don't mind me. I was just thinking of making a photo collection with photos like that, then selling it on eBay once you get popular and all, and making lots of money, but never mind that."  
  
Sweatdrop.  
  
"Do take a break."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Oh, I didn't know just posing would be so tiring." Takeru stretched, then rested his head on the table.  
  
"Thank god I'm not modelling." Yamato said, relieved.  
  
"I thought that was pretty fun, though." Taichi recalled.  
  
The door quickly opened, and Kei went through the doorway, then closed the door.  
  
"Hey, what do you guys want to drink?" he asked nicely.  
  
"I'll have Coke."  
  
"Orange juice."  
  
"Coke for me too."  
  
"I'll take a Sprite."  
  
"Water is fine."  
  
Kei nodded to each of the responses, then went through the doorway again.  
  
"He seems pretty nice now, although he was nice back then too." Ken complimented.  
  
Koushiro smiled. "Unlike Rumiko, I'm glad that we're working with such a nice person."  
  
"That Rumiko has such a cold attitude." Taichi grumbled.  
  
The door opened again, this time slowly. Both of Kei's arms holding drinks, two of which could be spilled due to the fact that they are in cups, not cans, can justify that.  
  
He carefully placed one by one on to the table, then sat down onto an empty chair. "Here you go."  
  
Grab.  
  
"You're such a nice person, Kei." Takeru said while slowly sipping his orange juice.  
  
"Nah. I'm just doing my job the easiest way it can be done." Kei replied, slightly smiling at the compliment given to him.  
  
"At least you're nicer than Rumiko." Taichi pulls the tab up.  
  
"Haha, Rumiko-sama is actually pretty nice. It's just that you need to know her first." Kei laughs.  
  
"I don't know how you stand that woman." Taichi mumbles as he drinks.  
  
"Oh, Kei-san, when will the show broadcast?" Koushiro asked excitedly.  
  
"A year later?"  
  
"Well. Yeah. Wouldn't people know of your identity if they saw the show?" Kei looked like he bit his fingernail, but did not, since he only placed it between his teeth.  
  
All the boys nodded at the same time, seemingly to never have discovered this point.  
  
"Are we going to be okay in the school? I mean, we're just alone, and people don't know about us....." Ken said with a concerned voice.  
  
"It's okay. The principal allowed us to let you in, so there should be no problems with the registrations, and we'll contact you by codec if you have problems."  
  
"Codec? Did you steal that name from Metal Gear Solid's codec transmitter?" Koushiro raised his eyebrow.  
  
Kei coughed. "Yes we did."  
  
"Anyway, break time is over. We'll start doing some treatments." Kei opened his folder that he took out of hammerspace.  
  
"You're going first, Taichi." Kei said as his eyes stuck to the contents of the folder. "It's the door to your left."  
  
Startled, Taichi stood up suddenly. "Wait! Why me first?!"  
  
"Because I like doing things counter alphabetically according to last name."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"So.....what's to be done here?" Taichi looked around in the small room, then to the lady.  
  
"Just lie down on the bed." The woman instructed.  
  
Taichi did as told. Cuffs came from under the bed and locked him in place.  
  
"What is this?! Help!" Taichi screamed.  
  
"Don't worry." The lady said while opening the cupboard, and taking some paper looking things and a little container. "I'm just going to wax away most of your body hair."  
  
Taichi's pupils dilated.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Ahhhhhhhhhh! I'll fucking kill you fucking asshats!"  
  
Gulps.  
  
"What's happening to him? How come we can hear his scream from so far away?" Yamato asked, worried about his own safety.  
  
"Don't worry. It's nothing." Kei said casually. "I think he's about done."  
  
Squeak squeak.  
  
"Kei-san.....I don't mean to be suspicious....." Koushiro queried. "But is there a particular reason that Taichi is coming out in a wheelchair?"  
  
"It hurts. It fucking hurrrrrrrts." Taichi complained without changing his expression.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Alright. Now that we're all in wheelchairs....." Kei announced. "You can go to the next station. It's to your right, we have enough helpers to all do this at once, so you can go at the same time."  
  
Nod.  
  
Pushes to the wheel.  
  
Squeak.  
  
"You're just going to take a few needles, they're perfectly safe." The nurse assured.  
  
Poke. Inject. Take out.  
  
"What's this needle?" Ken asked in curiosity.  
  
"Oh, it's just somethings to prevent body hair growth."  
  
"Oh." Ken nodded, seeing as that not being a really bad thing.  
  
Poke. Inject. Take out.  
  
"And what's this one for?" Ken eagerly asked.  
  
"Oh, that's to make your body change 30% of its testosterone into estrogen."  
  
"WHAAAAAT?!"  
  
"Don't worry. There won't be any major change, you'll be a little shorter, your hips a bit wider, your waist a bit slimmer." The nurse explained as she took another needle out. "We'll change it back once it's over."  
  
Poke. Inject. Take out.  
  
Ken wrinkled his forehead, unsure if he will be able to take the blow of knowing what that was.  
  
Ken gathered his courage and asked. "And that is.....?"  
  
"Prevention of Hepatitis B."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Koushiro looked strangely at the lady, squeezing his thighs so that some parts of his fat and muscles are gathered between her fingers, then she releases and repeats.  
  
"What's that supposed to do?"  
  
The lady looks at Koushiro. "Well, it's supposed to get rid of fat. And since I'm a professional, if I know how to do it, I could shape the muscles minorly, so I'm making you a bit slimmer, and making some parts of your body a bit feminine."  
  
"Is it supposed to hurt like that?" Koushiro pointed his finger at her squeezing hands.  
  
"Well, yes, dear, since I'm clearly squeezing your muscles." The lady laughed. "Is it making you feel uncomfortable?"  
  
"A bit." Koushiro grieved. "But nothing will make me feel more uncomfortable than being in nothing but my boxers right now."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Takeru, with his top off, didn't understand at all why his top was off, mostly because nothing was done.  
  
The lady put a measuring tape around his chest area, mumbled something, then went back to the closet, flipping through articles of something that Takeru couldn't see.  
  
Takeru sighed and waited.  
  
"Okay." The lady said, after busily fixing something at the counter. "Let's see if this fits you. Lift up your hands."  
  
Takeru did as told.  
  
She put a bra on him.  
  
Takeru froze.  
  
The lady moved to the side, then to the front, seeing how it looked on him.  
  
"It seems to fit pretty well. Oh, and there are fake breasts clipped on the bra, you simply take them, and clip them as you see onto the side. If you want to change bras, you can easily take out the clipping, and place the fake breasts in another bra, and clip them. Don't worry, although the fake breasts feel pretty real, they're light, so they won't weigh down your bra." The nurse explained, gesturing with her hands in the examples.  
  
Takeru kept being frozen, but his face is much redder than before.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Yamato looked pissed, as if he was played a joke on. Which wouldn't be hard to believe, since all he has on is a bra and boxers.  
  
The lady took a measuring tape, and measured his breasts. She carefully took the measuring number, walked to the counter, and wrote it down. She repeated for his waist and hips.  
  
She then took the sheet and recited it. "34/26/33. My, you're well endowed."  
  
Yamato was speechless.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"So." Kei looked at the status of the boys.  
  
Sitting in wheelchairs, check.  
  
In bras, check.  
  
Reasonably more feminine body. Half-check.  
  
"I think we'll rest for today."  
  
The boys let out a sigh of relief.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
I know. I know that I said that this chapter will be shorter, but somehow, that's not the case. I think the next few chapters will, however. But don't trust me totally on that.  
  
Anyway, please review, if you don't, I'll be discouraged, and will discontinue writing. I'm serious, so please review. Also, don't hesitate to review again if you already have. =)  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Next time:  
  
Prelude - Chapter 0.3: Seven days (Day 2/Angelic expression)  
  
The boys go and get their faces prettied.  
  
"Damn, you're really cute." 


	4. Chapter 03: Seven days: Day 2: Angelic E...

Boku-tachi/Atashi-tachi  
  
Hello everyone. I'm sorry if I didn't keep up with any updates or anything (although I think that it's in a reasonable time that I updated, considering that it was only around three days ago that I posted).  
  
But anyway, firstly.....  
  
Many many thanks to those that reviewed and supported "Boku/Ata". I'm soooo grateful. Thank you. Those people that reviewed include, at the time of which I started writing this chapter:  
  
TheAngelofLove, Jing, Kou Da Cutie, Takerus Lost Angel, angel203, ShadowScythe, Dark Takeru, Sunshine Anderson, Lara, mysticblackfairy, and, of course, Chantelle and Mura that reviewed upon request. Thank you guys ^_~.  
  
(Note that I think I put everyone's name that reviewed on here, but if I didn't, yell at me in the review box, and I'll fix it.)  
  
School is almost starting, that means that I'll be updating less. It's due to the fact of work, and the fact that school depresses me. It's hard to write something funny when you're depressed, you know. Oh well. That might help if I were to write a depressing chapter, but that's going to be when I'm more into the story.  
  
Disclaimer: I disclaim Digimon. There.  
  
Prelude - Chapter 0.3: Seven days (Day 2/Angelic expression)  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Koushiro yawned. He was awake, but he was too tired to move. Certainly, he could get up if he wanted and tried, it's just that he was quite lazy at the moment.  
  
Ding ding ding ding ding ding.  
  
Koushiro slammed his hand on the alarm clock. It had ringed for a long time. He never noticed it.  
  
//Although the room and everything in it are provided by the TV station, it's hard to believe that they would put an alarm clock that's could possibly work as a fire alarm.  
  
Holding his palm against the mattress, he gently lifted his upper body upright, then got off the bed. He walked to the northern desk, leaned over it and opened the curtains, then pushed open the windows.  
  
It was a sunny day. Not too sunny. Just enough. A light breeze flew past him, running through his hair.  
  
Koushiro gently closed his eyes and smiled.  
  
//Today is a beautiful day.  
  
Deciding not to spend any more time standing, he trotted over to the bathroom. His eyes travelled low, trying to find towels, toothbrush, where everything is. Koushiro then repeatedly squinted his eyes, trying to get rid of the blurry vision.  
  
He looked at the giant mirror.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"  
  
The boys looked at each other, half changed into ordinary masculine clothing.  
  
"Say, Koushiro isn't here yet." Taichi noted.  
  
"That's simple, isn't it? He's the screaming one, and we didn't hear it from here, therefore, he's not here? Of course, you could also tell by seeing that he's not here." Yamato semi-sarcastically said.  
  
Takeru fastened the buttons on his shirt, taking care in each one so that they get done properly.  
  
"This isn't like Koushiro, not being prepared at such a late time, 11:30 a.m. He should have gotten that message and instructions to come to the changing room at this time, right?"  
  
Ken blinked. "Why do you think he screamed?"  
  
Taichi's head suddenly twitched, and turned, as if he figured out something. "I'll bet 1000 yen saying that he's shocked that he's past the preparation time because he slept late."  
  
"That wouldn't be like Koushiro, I think. It would be more probable that he slipped on a wet towel, then fell down, and screamed while he fell, wouldn't it?" Ken suggested, his eyes half-open.  
  
"How about the hard drive on his laptop crashed or something? Since he brought it here and all." Takeru said, having his index finger up.  
  
Yamato coolly brushed some of his hair on the right side back. "I'll take any other reason."  
  
"That's cheap." Taichi grumbled.  
  
Squeak.  
  
"Oh, hey, Koushiro. What was taking you?" Taichi greeted.  
  
Koushiro silently shut the door, and walked towards his locker to get his clothes. His eyes seem dead, and he ignored Taichi.  
  
Mumble.  
  
The boys moved their heads in closer to listen.  
  
"Yesterday.....? I have breasts and a bra.....? How could I forget.....?"  
  
Sweatdrop.  
  
"Well, they did make us put it on for a longer time so that we'd get accustomed to it....." Takeru reasoned.  
  
Yamato shook his head. "No matter. Each of you hand over the 1000 yen."  
  
A vein popped in Taichi's forehead.  
  
"How dare you tell us to hand you money?! Choosing 'other reasons', that's so cheap!"  
  
Taichi took a 1000 yen bill, and stuck it in his bra.  
  
Yamato sighed. "Don't think that I'm afraid to reach in your bra."  
  
Grab.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
A worker walked past in the hallway, his vision laid on Kei, who was crouching in front of the closed changing room door, holding a mic towards the door.  
  
He stopped walking. "Kei-san, what are you doing?"  
  
Kei slowly put a finger vertically in front of his lips. "Shh. I'm recording a drama track."  
  
A scream.  
  
"Ahhhh! Stop touching my breasts!"  
  
"This is gold." Kei nodded.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Mmm.....I haven't had such a good lunch in.....years." Takeru leaned back on his chair.  
  
Kei laughed. "Hahaha, well, the station is spending big budgets on you anyway, so I suppose a few luxurious meals won't hurt too much."  
  
"Kei-san, what are we doing today?" Ken questioned, feeling like that it was time to work, since he finished his meal.  
  
Kei looked pensive for a moment, then grabbed and opened his common beige coloured folder that he had yesterday, and looked in it.  
  
"Basic beauty treatment."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
(Note that I'm really.....not familiar with beautifying treatments, so I'll just go through some basic things I know.)  
  
"Hmm." The lady (yet another lady) inspected Taichi. She practically stared at his face for a long time.  
  
"Ah.....ha." The lady nodded. "Looks like they haven't cleared that yet." She walked to the cupboard, snatched something, then walked back.  
  
"Cleared.....wha-"  
  
Stick.  
  
Rip.  
  
Scream.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
".....and then she stuck something on my above my upper lip, and ripped it, like it was some kind of tape, and then she claimed that I had facial hair." Takeru sobbed.  
  
"Poor you, Takeru." Ken lowered his head.  
  
"You'll be next anyway."  
  
"We've already heard the story from Taichi with a fat lip." Yamato laughed. "I didn't know anybody could give you a fat lip."  
  
"Don't worry, it'll be gone in like 15 minutes or so." Kei said while he continued writing somethings in the papers in the folder.  
  
//[Taichi] Dammit, Yamato, I'd deck you if it was allowed.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"This mask thing is ridiculous." Koushiro commented.  
  
"Apparently, it does help facial conditions....." Ken murmured.  
  
"Damn it, we look like total freaks, with some white coat of crap on our face." grumbled Taichi. Not the first time he did.  
  
Yamato ran his fingers through his hair, and left them there. "How my image would be destroyed if someone saw me like this."  
  
Kei suddenly stopped writing. He kept immobile for a minute, then he stood up, and looked through a big bag that's on the ground.  
  
The boys patiently watched what he did.  
  
"There we go....."  
  
Flash.  
  
Click.  
  
Sprint.  
  
"Anyone want to run after him and get that film out before it's too late?"  
  
"I would, but it's just that people will see how I look if I ran after him like that."  
  
"Who cares?! He's got the photos!" Yamato pushed Takeru out of the room.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Hmm....."  
  
"Didn't you stare at me like this five minutes ago?"  
  
"Shut up. I need to concentrate."  
  
Brush brush.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Yagami-san, are you ready?" Kei called out.  
  
"Ye.....yeah."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Kei stared at Taichi, but also did the other boys, except that they did it with awe.  
  
Taichi's eyes went to the sides to prevent any eye contact or embarrassment.  
  
".....Hmm. Huh.....light eye shadow.....a tiny bright red lipstick.....the basic natural look, minimally." Kei mirrored his words with his pen. "Mm. That's good, it suits you. Takaishi-san, you're next."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Takeru, like anybody else in the same situation, was indeed, embarrassed. But unlike Taichi, he just kept looking at the ground and not move.  
  
Takeru's face was fluffed with the colour pink. Mainly pink lipstick and a pink blush, expressing some of his more feminine features.  
  
"Huh. Cute. Izumi-san, next."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Koushiro stepped out of the room. His face was red, knowing that people are staring at him.  
  
"Huh....." Kei scratched his head. He carefully scanned Koushiro's features again, puzzled, he wrote down in his folder: 'Unknown treatment done, impression of a shy bookworm.'.  
  
"Next.....Ishida-san."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Yamato stood there, not avoiding any glances. Surely, his heart is pounding crazily, but his exterior remains unaffected by that.  
  
Many places, above his eyes, on his eyelids, around his cheeks, were applied with a light, but obvious bluish colour. In return, it gave him a cool and elegantly beautiful look.  
  
Kei nodded and, like all other times, wrote a few comments into his folder, then signalled Ken to go.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Ken walked out cautiously, flicking some of his hair away from his eyes.  
  
Ken's face was made slightly lighter, but a bipolar colour, black, was also applied so some of his features, making them more acute.  
  
"Alright then....."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
It was a big room with one big mirror that streaked across. Before the mirror was a counter like support to hold items, and around a dozen height and angle adjustable leather seats.  
  
"Okay, we're going to have a several hair stylists help you set your hair properly." Kei announced.  
  
"Can't we just do it ourselves?" Yamato grumbled.  
  
One of the men in the back came forward.  
  
"We're professionals, you know, we're different from common gel users like you."  
  
Shock.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Hey, Takeru, is your nii-san still sitting in the corner?"  
  
"Apparently so, he's still emotionally frozen from the last remark." Takeru whispered back to Ken.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Taichi was sitting on one of those seats, with a large white piece of cloth in front of him from neck down. Kei and another hair stylist were standing behind him, discussing what to do.  
  
"This thing is like a freaking monument, I have no guarantee that I'll make it work."  
  
"It's alright, try your best." Kei patted the stylist on the back. "Let's do it like we said."  
  
The stylist nodded, and took a pair of scissors and a comb in one hand, and a tray with lots of accessories in another, and started trimming Taichi's hair. Big chunks fell down.  
  
Insert 15 minutes here  
  
"Okay." The stylist patted his hands together to get rid of the hair strands stuck on it.  
  
Taichi's hair was not reduced much in size, but rather, it looks quite similar to what he had before. His hair seems to fall a bit more to both sides a bit more slightly, rather than purely sticking up, but it still stuck up more than any other hair. He gained some short bangs at the side, which seemed strange to him.  
  
"And," The stylist added. "during special occasions, you could do this."  
  
He grabbed a portion of his hair at the left of his head, then tied it up, and did similarly to the right portion.  
  
At the back of Taichi's hair, there were two strong strands, held together by two separate white bands, and the middle to end portion of those big locks moved downwards due to gravitation, and caused the entire lock to form a 'L' shape at a large tilt.  
  
Taichi's head dropped.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Kei stared at Takeru, then back into his own sketch pad, and started scribbling a bit, then stared back at Takeru, then started drawing again.  
  
Kei handed the pad to the stylist. "Get me one like this."  
  
"Same colour?"  
  
"Yea."  
  
The stylist walked over to the back room in the salon, then quickly came back out with a wig.  
  
Takeru stared at the wig and gulped.  
  
The stylist put the wig on Takeru, then shifted it a little bit.  
  
"Is this good?" The stylist turned from Takeru to Kei.  
  
"Perfect." Kei replied.  
  
The hair colour seemed lighter than Takeru's own, but that seems to be an illusion by having more hair reflected more under the bright white light in the salon. The bangs were more spread out, and longer than Takeru's own, and his hair on the back lied at shoulder length, and it slightly curled backwards at the end.  
  
"Oh, and do the cut."  
  
The stylist nodded, took off the wig, and starting to carefully trim Takeru's hair.  
  
".....Eh? Why are you cutting my hair even after you gave me a wig?" Takeru asked, his eyes twirling.  
  
"I'm cutting your hair so that when it grows more, it's going to turn out like your wig, having a wig is potentially dangerous to your identity being revealed, so when your hair grows to about the same length, you could take off your wig, but I'm cutting your hair so that it's going to look exactly like your wig when it grows out." The stylist indifferently explained as he continued to trim.  
  
"You could do that?"  
  
"We're professionals."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Hmm....." Kei hummed as he pondered, looking at Koushiro's head. "Give him a.....same coloured.....straight, thick, neck-length....." he requested, with doubt, as if there is something more suitable but he couldn't think up.  
  
The stylist took a wig and set it on Koushiro's head.  
  
"Hmm.....that doesn't seem quite right." Kei said, the side of his index finger touching his lips. "Let's try.....greenish with twin braids."  
  
"....."  
  
Sweatdrop.  
  
"Long, black, wavy?"  
  
"Hmm."  
  
Sigh.  
  
"Blonde mushroom?"  
  
"Argh."  
  
Popping veins.  
  
"Let's just stick with the straight neck length."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Hmm, Ishida-san. Should we decide for you, or should you decide for yourself?" Kei asked with a smirk.  
  
Yamato's eyes narrowed. "You decide."  
  
Kei smiled brightly. "You won't be disappointed."  
  
He scanned Yamato's head shape, his current hair, and imagined what kind of hair would suit him. He squinted his eyes so that he could see more details of Yamato's head.  
  
".....Get model 52." Kei waved at the stylist.  
  
Insert typical go in room get wig scene here  
  
The wig fit perfectly on Yamato, long, but scarce bangs hanged over his eyes, while two longer locks hanged beside his face. His hair lengthened to his back, tightened together like a ponytail.  
  
"How is it?"  
  
"It's.....passable."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"....." Kei scratched his hair.  
  
"What is it?" Ken asked, worried.  
  
"I....." Kei looked at Ken again. And again. Then at the stylist.  
  
"Just.....style his hair a little. No wig, no cut, no trim."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Alright, you can rest now, or do whatever you want. I could take off the make up, it's recommended that you do, but please leave your wigs on, whoever that has them." Kei announced, as if reciting from a sheet of paper.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Each of the boys walked to their room, like hunchbacks, due to how tired they are. However, they were tired because they simply almost sat there all day.  
  
A wave of good night.  
  
Yawn.  
  
Open door.  
  
Close door.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Ken stared in the mirror, looking at how different he is, with such artificial additions. His eyes were dark, and his lips pale.  
  
He turned on the tap to the water, and repeatedly splashed his face, wiping some of the colouring off. Taking a towel from the side, he used it to dry his face.  
  
Ken looked in the mirror again. His expression was no different.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Ack. This chapter kind of sucked. Well, the main idea in this chapter was to given an idea of how the boys looked like. Generally, I wasn't quite in the mood when I wrote this chapter, so, blah.  
  
I'll try to finish the Seven Days prelude arc as soon as possible.  
  
Next time:  
  
Prelude - Chapter 0.4: Seven days (Day 3/Unlike Words)  
  
The boys learn how to talk more girlish.  
  
Anyway, review review review. 


	5. Chapter 04: Seven days: Day 3: Unlike Wo...

Boku-tachi/Atashi-tachi  
  
Firstly, I'd like to thank everyone that I haven't thanked that reviewed my ficcy. You're all so great. ^^  
  
Anyway, here's the list: darei, HikariChan, LiToAzNaKiRa, CatGirlJasp, animefreak85, Queen of Black Chaos, and Kaz.  
  
Of course, all of those that has reviewed again, you know who you are, are just lovely. Thank you once again. Anyone that I haven't thanked will probably be thanked next chapter.  
  
School is going to start in a few days, for me, at least, since I know some friends which already have started school, and that might decrease my frequency of posting new chapters (believe it or not, nearly every word in every chapter I've posted has been thought and typed up after midnight, so I'm more efficient to work then, but when school starts, I can't stay up that late any more). But, of course, with more encouragement (a.k.a. reviews), that'll surely be no problem.  
  
I didn't know that having three periods in a row was considered a Microsoft Word formatting, so, if in the previous chapter you saw a standalone period, and wondered what it's doing there, it's suppose to be three periods. I think I have those errors replaced, but.....please tell me if you spot another like so.  
  
Oh. By the way, this chapter should break through the 10000 words mark. Yay. ::raises flag of victory::  
  
Extra: This is a note after posting. Apparently, fanfiction.net became a bit evil with titles and suddenly disallowed all special characters in (not that special) subtitles, so I couldn't use parenthesis or slashes. I tried to fix that, but then it reverted all my chapters (I should never touch anything again). So, now I'm using boring colons. =p  
  
Disclaimer: I dream of owning Digimon, but when I wake up, it's otherwise. (Simply, I don't own Digimon.)  
  
Prelude - Chapter 0.4: Seven Days (Day 3/Unlike Words)  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Ken groaned.  
  
Within five seconds, he became much more aware of the environment and the messages given by his senses. Ken felt a weight on his face.  
  
He distinctly remembered, although the memory seemed improbable to be true.  
  
// "Let's see how we'll style your hair." The stylist said, clicking his tongue.  
  
Ken remained silent. His fingers fidgeted involuntarily.  
  
"I know!"  
  
The stylist swiftly moved in front of Ken and grabbed a lock of hair on his side. He then used his other hand to gather a smaller lock of hair in the same area, and brought them together to form a bigger lock, then used a black band, and seemingly, twisted it around the lock 20 times, Ken estimated, since it was so close to his face that he couldn't tell. The stylist repeated it to the other side.  
  
Backing off to behind Ken, the stylist proudly asked, "How do you like it?"  
  
Both side of Ken's face has a large lock independent from the rest of his hair, suspended by a band, and the way the band is suspended resembles the Roman numeral X, so that there are horizontal lines above and below the X.  
  
Ken blinked. He looked again. And again.  
  
"Isn't this.......Lain's hair style? At least the banded lock." Ken scratched his face gently, hoping not to have insulted the stylist.  
  
"Hey, good artists borrow, great artists steal." He quoted.   
  
And apparently, the origins of the weight seemingly belong to the two locks of hair. Ken brushed the locks off his face clumsily. His day had started. Wanting to change first, he got off the bed and exited his room.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Good morning, Kei-san." Ken smiled as he passed Kei down the hall.  
  
"Good morning." Kei smiled back, then continued along his path.  
  
//Kei-san seems pretty nice to us.......although that's probably because that he is being nice to us so that we'd feel more comfortable. Maybe he's only doing this to us, joking around with us just so that we'd work better.  
  
Ken's eyes stayed still.  
  
//But some reason, he really seemed like he was going to sell that picture of us in facial masks.  
  
Ken's lips moved in doubt as he opened the door to the change room and entered. He lifted his head.  
  
//Huh?! What's that girl doing in here?  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Kei rushed, although he walked rather than ran, to the change room.  
  
//Oh no.....I forgot to tell Ichijouji-san about 'that'.  
  
A sweat poured down his face.  
  
//I hope he isn't surprised.  
  
Kei finished the final steps, then opened the door to see Ken standing there, motionless.  
  
"Oh, Ichijouji-san, I forgot to tell you that we installed a mirror in the change room."  
  
"It's alright."  
  
"Are you alright? You don't look so well."  
  
"I'm alright."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"So, what do you have for us today?" Koushiro asked while drinking, making his question slightly incoherent.  
  
"Ah, good question." Kei nodded as he reached his hand into his folder and pulled out a white piece of paper with various black texts on it.  
  
Taichi tried to read the paper, but it was blurry to him at such a far distance. "What's that?"  
  
"It's your false identity. Your background information we will do some other day, but I hope that we can settle on the names first. We already decided your last names, since it's harder to fake records according to last names if you made them up, but you can create your own first names. Certainly you can't present yourselves with male names, so please make up female names for yourselves." Kei explained, putting the piece of paper on the table.  
  
"Ah, I see. Then you've already decided last names for us, then?" Yamato voiced his presumption.  
  
"That's correct. We've went through quite some complicated procedures in order to make new identities on governmental records, so the last names have been preset." Kei said, standing up, holding the folder in his hand.  
  
Takeru blinked. "Isn't that kind of illegal?"  
  
"It sure is!"  
  
"You say it as if it's a good thing." Ken said, stunned.  
  
"Exactly." Kei laughed. "I'll leave you guys in this room to decide for your names, I'll come back a bit later." He said as he closed the door.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
30 minutes later.......  
  
From a distance, Koushiro held the paper in his hand, and argued. Ken shook his head in disagreement, and argued back, his hand supporting his chin. Taichi stopped the argument with a puzzled look, then seemingly asked something. Takeru poked Taichi's shoulders and explained something with a serious look on his face.  
  
//Hmm. Looks like they're not done. I wonder what they're arguing about? Probably situations where certain names will be advantageous, or various other things. How calculating. These boys are more fit for the job than I thought.  
  
Kei nodded as he closed the door, blocking out the slight gap from which he peeked from.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
1 hour after the initial discussion  
  
The room was silent. Each of the boys didn't have a dissatisfied look on their faces. It seems that the argument was settled.  
  
Kei completely opened the door. "Have you something completed for me?"  
  
"Yeah. We just finished it." Koushiro said, looking rather tired. He passed the piece of paper folded in half to Taichi, who gave it to Kei.  
  
"Thanks, I'll go process this right now." Kei said gratefully and exited the room again.  
  
"You think our names will be good enough?" Takeru pondered.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Opening his laptop, Kei pressed a few shortcut keys by holding down the alt button on his keyboard and another key, and accessed the menu.  
  
"Let's see here." Kei unfolded the piece of paper and looked at it.  
  
( Name Change List  
  
From Original - Changed  
  
Taichi - Taiko  
  
Yamato - Yamako  
  
Koushiro - Koushiko  
  
Takeru - Takeko  
  
Ken - Kenko )  
  
(ko is a common ending in a girl's name)  
  
Kei went dotted eye.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Migaya Taiko...Dashii Yamako...Mizui Koushiko...Shiikata Takeko...Jiujochii Kenko." Kei mumbled as he typed into the laptop.  
  
"I wonder if they will notice that we reversed their last names."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"So.why are we sticking this piece of clear thing inside our upper lip again?" Yamato muttered while he struggled with the clear piece.  
  
"It's a multi-functional device." Kei excitedly explained. "It amplifies the frequency of your voice, then tweaks it a little so that you sound like a girl, but it also acts as the mouth piece of your invisible walkie- talkie, of course, the other part being the cordless earphone we'll install some days later."  
  
"Ah." Koushiro started, but stopped, realizing the different sound he made.  
  
"Wow, I actually sound like a girl!" Takeru tested.  
  
Ken just sat there, afraid of how he would sound like.  
  
"This thing is amazing!" Taichi shouted.  
  
Screech.  
  
"I think we'll have to adjust your voice changer a bit, Taichi." Kei waved his hand out, for Taichi to give back his multi-functional nameless device.  
  
"It's not my fault that my seiyuu is a woman!"  
  
(seiyuu: voice actor)  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Exercise 1:  
  
Each of the boys sit on the same one side of the round table, wondering what the television in front of them would show.  
  
"Okay, I'm going to show you a clip, and I want you to comment upon the clip. Remember, right now, you're a girl." Kei said as he pressed play on the remote.  
  
A scene. A room. A woman. A man. Argument. A slap from the woman.  
  
Pause.  
  
"Taichi. What do you think?" Kei asked.  
  
"Woah. What's with the PMS?"  
  
Whack.  
  
Regaining his calmer emotions, Kei lectured, "Taichi. Remember. You are a girl. Female. Do you know what I'm saying? You're a girl right now."  
  
A nod.  
  
"Ah, good. Now answer my question again."  
  
"Woah. What's with the PMS?"  
  
"Someone else please slap him for me."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Exercise 2:  
  
A boy. Blushing.  
  
Yamato eyed.  
  
"I...umm...I love you!" The boy shouted out all of a sudden, as if using all this energy as courage.  
  
"..." Yamato sighed, then flipped some of his hair/wig back.  
  
Slap.  
  
Slap.  
  
"Go see a psychiatrist and don't bother onee-san." Yamato took some money out of his shirt pocket, threw it at the boy, and coolly walked off.  
  
"..."  
  
"If your onii-san keeps acting cool like this, they'll have my head before I can borrow another actor." Kei whispered to Takeru.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Exercise 3:  
  
A bald middle-aged man eyed Koushiro. His eyes ran up and down. Gulping, the middle-aged man slowly approached Koushiro.  
  
The man patted Koushiro on the shoulders, "Hey, I'll pay you, come play with uncle." His glares becoming more indecent.  
  
Koushiro brushed off his hand. "No thanks."  
  
"Come on." The bald man tried placing his hand upon Koushiro's shoulders again. "I'll pay you 5000 yen!"  
  
Koushiro froze.  
  
"Okay, let's go."  
  
Kei lowered his head. "It's my fault. I mean, I should've told him that he was not to be a whore, right?" He mumbled, in despair.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Exercise 4:  
  
The same bald middle-aged man looked at Ken. He sighed, then walked and proceeded with his role.  
  
"Hey there cutie. How about we go to a motel or something?"  
  
Ken turned around to meet the man, then scanned him with his eyes quickly.  
  
"You shouldn't be doing this." Ken drowned?  
  
"Eh?"  
  
"You have a ring on your left ring finger, that means you're married. Since you're married, you shouldn't be picking up girls to go to hotels like this." Ken lectured calmly.  
  
The man scratched his head. "But I'm just following my lines..."  
  
"Shh. Listen when people talk to you. Have you ever considered how lonely your wife is while you're here trying to get other women to sleep with you? Have you no shame? You should at least-" Ken continued on as the man blankly nodded.  
  
Sweatdrop.  
  
"It's not a correct reaction, but at least it's not wrong."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Exercise 5:  
  
The bald man walked over to Takeru, letting a great amount of air to be exhaled through his nose, knowing that it'll almost be over.  
  
"Hey. How about we go over to them motels, take a room, and spend some happy time?" The man put a hand on Takeru's shoulder.  
  
Takeru froze. His eyes became clouded with doubts. A drop of cold sweat falls.  
  
//Damn...what would a girl do? What would any girl do in this kind of situation...?  
  
Takeru's expression hardened even more, then he nodded slightly.  
  
Takeru shouted. "RAAAAPE!"  
  
Turn around.  
  
Kick in the crotch.  
  
Look around.  
  
Takeru runs.  
  
"Argh...my head. God help me." Kei said, holding his forehead in his left hand.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
A bright television screen is in front of Taichi. His eyes reflect the image on the screen. Slightly pouting, he ponders, "Hmm..."  
  
"Come on, Taichi. You know the answer. We did this already." Kei encouraged. "What's your comment on this clip?"  
  
Taichi's eyes narrowed. Wrinkles appeared between his eyes. He opened his mouth, but no words come out, he was in a dilemma between answers. Taichi swallowed.  
  
"No comment."  
  
"Great. You're improving already."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Alright, that's all for today. Dismissed." Kei waved his hand back and forth.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Night."  
  
Everyone, like zombies, walked back to their own room.  
  
Taichi poked Yamato before Yamato could reach the door.  
  
"Ne, Yamato..."  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"After all this happened, a year later...do you think we."  
  
Gulp.  
  
"Huh? What are you talking about?"  
  
"No. Nothing. Never mind. Hahaha. I'll go back to my room now."  
  
"Okay. Whatever suits you. Night."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Taichi, after closing the door, immediately ran over to his bed, and jumped and lied on it. Taichi remained there.  
  
//I don't feel like moving. No matter. The light being on doesn't bother me. I'll just sleep like this.  
  
Taichi shivered.  
  
It was cold.  
  
He didn't move.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Oi-ya. That took a long time, but it's not a long chapter! =p Well, the reason was because of school/writer's block combination or somethings. I usually publish during weekends, since I finish the chapters then (most of the time, I finish one chapter at a time), so I'll probably publish them once a week from now on. I'm sorry if this chapter wasn't as good, but it was just...er...something. Despite school, I'll try to improve upon situations (I bring a sketch note book to school all the time in case I think up something worth noting.). I usually would release chapters once a week, but if I don't release a chapter by the end of a weekend, I usually haven't finished it, and it'll probably be done the next weekend (unless there's a holiday somewhere).  
  
And of course, review, review, review. It's encouragement. Or it's pressure. Either one, I write more that way. Anyway, it's 4 in the morning.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Prelude - Chapter 0.5: Seven Days (Day 4/Break Day's Daybreak)  
  
A chapter that is about a day off for the boys. 


	6. Chapter 05: Seven days: Day 4: Break Day...

Boku-tachi/Atashi-tachi  
  
Again, thanks to all that reviewed. You've been lovely. This time, I think I won't list out all the people that reviewed, due to the complexity of that nature. However, as long as you have reviewed, you should know that your reviews are greatly appreciated, really. Every single one is encouragement, and I do read over them.  
  
One question that, if I recall correctly, more than one person asked was something along the lines of "When does the romance start?". Well. The story hasn't actually begun yet, as it will start after the prelude's seven chapters. Of course, after I finished, technically, the romance won't start immediately, it's not like they just start and Taichi and Sora will start kissing frantically, as irrational as my fictions go, they won't be that silly. Of course, I'll try to work really hard and finish the rest of the days. With what I planned, I'll compress Day 5 and 6 into one chapter, and make Day 7 quite short, and I'll try to finish most of them this week. So that fellow readers will get to read what they, presumably, want to read most. It's what I want to write most as well, so that'll be pretty soon to come, that's what I hope.  
  
Also, when the actual story comes, I won't be trying to jab a joke in whenever I have the chance, that takes up quite some energy and thought. And I think my thoughts are running out as well, so the next chapters might not be as funny, that's what I always say, anyway. It'll be a light-hearted and slow romantic, somewhat. Of course, if the joke comes when I write it, I'll put it in, so it's kind of a no-guarantee to whatever thing. Ack. I'm ranting too much. Anyway. Enjoy.  
  
Once again, thank you thank you thank you to all my fellow reviews and readers. More so if you reviewed. =p And remember to keep on reviewing, or...I'll be really evil and write chapters and not release them! Yeah. That is evil. Or I can just release them, but make the font Wingdings.  
  
And by the way, I changed the summary a little bit, which, for some odd reason, edited out the - and / in my title, leaving me with BokutachiAtashitachi, which, has, to the least, made me feel like an idiot, like that time I did it with the chapter titles. For now, I'll just try to make it Bokutachi, Atashitachi, which doesn't give the theme off as much as it should, but at least fanfiction.net accept the comma sign. The title also looks really bad like that, kind of stupid, too, I think most of you would agree. If anyone knows why this is happening, and/or how to fix it, please e-mail me or drop it off in my review box, thanks.  
  
And before I forget:  
  
Disclaimer: Digimon isn't mine. Yeah. If it was, I'd make it so that they'd make what I'm writing into an anime and broadcast it, then having it subtitled, brought over to America, having it aired, and then parents would complain because the show has eviiiil subject matter, and then I would tell them to stuff it up their- ahem. I've made my point anyway.  
  
Prelude - Chapter 0.5: Seven Days (Day 4/Break Day's Daybreak)  
  
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Taichi blinked.  
  
The idea of cross dressing, then mix himself into a bunch of girls in an all-girl school has, to the least, horrified him. Despite how the idea turns him off, the fact that he's doing something so...different has kept his heart rate above average, as well as waking him up early, and keeping him up ever since. Although no excitement has ever impulsively allowed Taichi to get out of a warm bed.  
  
"Unnn..." Taichi shook his head.  
  
Maybe not.  
  
Taichi stood up.  
  
Stretch.  
  
Step. Step. Step.  
  
//I'm feeling so weird lately. Only my body has been made more feminine...I think, but ever since, I've been feeling really different.  
  
Taichi looked in the mirror, and tilted his head slightly.  
  
He shook his head vigorously, as if trying to get something inside his head to fall out.  
  
Gulp.  
  
Taichi spun on one foot, a full circle, then smiled gently, and tilted his head a bit.  
  
"Taichi-san, I thought that I was going to come by and just-" Takeru looked past the door after he opened it.  
  
"I...umm...I'm so sorry for disturbing your moment."  
  
Slam.  
  
Fast footsteps.  
  
//Dammit, I knew I should've never done that.  
  
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"Alright. Today is a break day. You guys can go do whatever you want for today." Kei mumbled weakly, with a toothpick between his lips.  
  
Koushiro blinked. "Why is that?"  
  
"Ah, we're a bit ahead of schedule here." Kei explained firmly.  
  
"Really?" Ken asked in disbelief.  
  
"No, not really. Just that the author has ran out of ideas." Kei tapped his foot. "Feel free to explore the station, you can take off your...er...femininity, if you so wish."  
  
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Taichi groaned as he stretched his arms as far up as they could go, favouring the feeling of wearing a tank top. A male tank top, he insisted. Without breasts inside, he added.  
  
Everyone else was dressed casually, but with more cloth than Taichi.  
  
"I think I have to go pay some attention to my laptop now, I've left it on for days downloading things, and recharging as well." Koushiro indistinctively said as he walked into his room.  
  
"Ne, Yamato."  
  
"What is it, Taichi?"  
  
"Come to my room later."  
  
"Mmm."  
  
Taichi and Yamato went into their respective rooms, then shut the door a bit louder than necessary.  
  
Ken and Takeru exchanged glances with each other in the isolated hallway.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Huh...let's see." Koushiro mumbled to himself as he pulled the plug off the line that connected the computer and the wall socket.  
  
Carefully, Koushiro depressed the button and flipped the screen upright. He ran his fingers over the keyboard, marvelling at how they feel after a days. His eyes went from the screen to the keyboard, and went white.  
  
The keyboard's keys are now arranged in alphabetical order.  
  
"Holy shiiiiiit!"  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"So, Taichi, what is it that you wanted?" Yamato casually asked.  
  
Taichi, lying on the bed, having a blanket covering his lower body, glanced at Yamato. "Nothing in particular. Just wanted to talk."  
  
Yamato chuckled. "Just wanted to talk? That doesn't seem like you."  
  
Taichi coughed. "So, how are you?"  
  
Yamato walked over and sat on the side of the bed, his back facing Taichi. "'How are you?', Taichi, you never said that before. What is it? Spill it."  
  
Taichi scratched his head through his hair. "Well, it's just that...you're doing this now, but what about your band?"  
  
Yamato blinked. "My band? What about it?"  
  
"Doing this will take an entire year off of your life. That means you can't be in your band anymore."  
  
"That's alright. I can go back afterwards."  
  
Taichi shook his head. "That's not the point. You're the lead singer of the band. Only recently has your band's popularity increased outside of the Odaiba district. I know that you worked really hard on it. Being away for a year...well,"  
  
"You're right. It'll more or less affect my music career." Yamato nodded. "The band will stay together. They'll be okay without me. One year later, maybe people will forget about me. But I'll just work my way up again."  
  
"I know that you spent lots of time and effort to be where you are today. I don't want you to throw all that away just because all of us are doing it and you feel pressured-"  
  
"It's okay, Taichi. I wanted to do this. Plus, afterwards, I'm sure that I could win back what I lost with this pick." Yamato reached his hand into his back pocket, and took out a black triangular guitar pick with circular corners.  
  
"Yeah." Taichi smiled slightly, and leaned forward and grabbed the pick by the corners.  
  
Lights from the ceiling bounced off the shiny black surface of the pick, showing clean engraved marks on the pick "Y. I.", which would otherwise be invisible.  
  
"Ack!" the pick slipped from Taichi's fingers and dropped inside the blanket.  
  
Frowning, Taichi slipped his entire upper body into the blanket in search for the pick, which did not contrast a lot under the blanket. Of course, not realizing that he folded his entire body like a portable chair.  
  
Crack.  
  
"Ahhhh!" Taichi quickly sat upright.  
  
"That...didn't sound pretty." Yamato twitched. "Let me get it."  
  
"Ack...sorry." Taichi apologized as he leaned back.  
  
Yamato reached his hand inside the blanket, patting the bed trying to see if the pick was anywhere there.  
  
"Huh..." Yamato continued, only to further find no result, which was frustrating, after all, the bed was only so big.  
  
Yamato crawled head first into the blanket, hoping to be able to find the pick, which had, some sentimental value, to the least. It being in the blanket too long with Taichi along with it might spoil some of the sentimentality.  
  
"TAICHI!" The door blasted open. "Did you touch my laptop!?" Koushiro demanded.  
  
Taichi lying against the wall, sitting on the bed, his lower body covered by a blanket.  
  
Yamato, head and hands inside the blanket.  
  
Blush.  
  
"Uh...sorry for interrupting anything."  
  
Slam.  
  
Yamato quickly retrieved himself from the blanket. "No! It's not like that!!"  
  
"Damn it, it's twice today already." Taichi whispered to himself.  
  
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Ken walked slowly, then a bit faster to keep up with Takeru, then slowed down again once he caught up.  
  
"Let's explore around the station." Takeru suggested, after minutes of silence.  
  
"Sure..." Ken nodded as he walked behind Takeru. His mind wandered, as did his eyes.  
  
//[Ken] ...Cylinder garbage can, vending machine, telephone, counters, small clocks with bold numbers. Telephone. I wonder if I should call someone. Anyone. It's only been 4 days, but it feels like some twisted group isolation. Should I call my parents? Iori? Perhaps some of my other friends...  
  
// "Call me sometime." Miyako winked.   
  
Takeru turned around in response to the stopping sound of footsteps. "What's wrong, Ken?"  
  
"Ah...actually, you go on ahead. I have something to do. I'll catch up with you later."  
  
"Oh, okay." Takeru replied as he turned back and continued along his path.  
  
Ken patiently watched as Takeru disappeared around the corner, then walked back to the telephone, hung up on the wall. His left hand reached for the phone, his right hand pulled out a card from his pocket, and his eyes scanned the card for the longest numerical value he can find, ignoring everything else.  
  
Tap.  
  
Tap tap tap tap tap tap tap.  
  
"Hello? Inoue Miyako, please."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Takeru walked down the hallway, his head constantly turning left and right, looking at what things there were that he didn't already see.  
  
//Everything is almost like a clone of anything else in this station...aside from a few things. I'm going deeper and deeper. I hope I don't get lost.  
  
Though, logically, he knew that it's very difficult to get lost in a single route.  
  
"Huh..." Takeru sounded to himself as he walked slowly near an open door, taking a peek of what's inside.  
  
The backside of two grown men, staring at a panel with multiple screens.  
  
"See, by altering changing the timing like this, you can manage to get everything within the time slots."  
  
//This voice...is...  
  
"Hmm. That does work. Pretty good work, Ishida. No wonder that the high statuses appointed you personally for this job."  
  
//Ishida...tou-san?  
  
"Haha, it's nothing. A bit of trial and error with some experience is basically all you need."  
  
Takeru, zoned out from listening, slipped and lost his balance by shifting his weight, and fell into the wall beside the door, creating a rather sudden noise.  
  
"Who's there?"  
  
Getting up, Takeru sprinted off.  
  
//Good luck, tou-san.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Hello."  
  
"Hello."  
  
"This is Ichijouji Ken."  
  
"Oh, Ken! Er...Ichijouji-san."  
  
"Ken is alright. No need to get formal with me."  
  
"Oh...alright, then. Ken. So, what is it today?"  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"I mean...do you have some reason you're calling me?"  
  
"Oh...umm. None in particular. It's just that other day you said-"  
  
"'Call me.'"  
  
"Right. That."  
  
"Where are you calling from?"  
  
"Oh...uh...work. Yeah. I'm calling from work."  
  
"Oh wow. You work too? Just like Hikari-chan. What kind of work do you do?"  
  
"It's nothing big. ...Just some small work, like moving things around, learning some basic things in a television station. Trying to accumulate work experience."  
  
"Ah, that's pretty cool! A television station, huh?"  
  
"Yep, a television station..."  
  
"Think you could take me around inside?"  
  
"Oh...um...I think not. Sorry. It's not like I have authority..."  
  
"Haha, I know. I'm just kidding."  
  
"Oh, hahahaha."  
  
"Hmm...when are you free?"  
  
"Free? I'm not sure."  
  
"Hmm. I was thinking...maybe we could...well, maybe we could come out together sometime?"  
  
"Huh? Come out, you mean like a...date?"  
  
"Oh, uh...Anyway, I've got to go now. If you find out when you're free, call this number again, if my roommates answer it, just tell them to give it to me, if I'm not here, just tell them the time, they'll tell me, okay, bye!"  
  
"What? Wait!"  
  
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.  
  
With a blank expression, Ken hanged up the phone.  
  
"Free time?" Ken sighed. "There won't be any for another year."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Takeru quickened his pace. It was quite a few corners and some distance from the room that he ran from, but he continued just to be safe. He looked back to check if anyone was running after him.  
  
"Oof!"  
  
Fall.  
  
"Eh?" Takeru looked up, seeing Taichi and Yamato, staring down. Realizing that Yamato and Taichi were not only staring down at him, but also at Koushiro, who he seemingly bumped into, Takeru quickly stood up and gave a hand to Koushiro.  
  
Koushiro stood up. "Watch where you're running to, geez."  
  
"Oh, umm. Sorry."  
  
Yamato cupped his chin along with his mouth and a part of his nose. "What was wrong, Takeru? I don't think you would run so fast for no reason."  
  
"Oh...er...um..." Takeru scratched his head.  
  
"See, now you got him all flustered." Taichi remarked.  
  
"Takeru. What is it?" Yamato glared at Takeru. Usually, there wouldn't be this kind of tension, but Yamato felt that apparently, it was something that he needs to know about.  
  
"I...saw tou-san." Takeru hesitantly answered.  
  
"Oh." Yamato said as if it was no big deal.  
  
Takeru blinked. "Don't you want to see him?"  
  
"It's alright. He would take care of himself all right. No use spying on him and all."  
  
"Where's Ken?" Koushiro looked around, trying to see if he would be anywhere near. "Wasn't he with you?"  
  
"He had something to do." Takeru replied. "Or so he said."  
  
"Ah, I see."  
  
"Oh, what are you guys doing here?" Takeru asked.  
  
"Taichi thought it might have been funny so remove, somehow, my alphabetical keys and place them in alphabetical order." Koushiro mentioned for no reason.  
  
Taichi sighed. "We're bored. Nothing much to do. We practically went around the entire station once already."  
  
"It is quite interesting that, as a matter of fact, the station mostly consists of a bunch of rooms that connect to one single hallway that does not split at any point. Which makes it pretty much...a linear track of sorts." Koushiro observed.  
  
"...Track, huh..." Taichi muttered.  
  
Yamato glanced at Taichi.  
  
Taichi glanced at Yamato.  
  
"Want to take a test run?" Taichi suggested, although he knew that Yamato had the same thought, grinning.  
  
"I'll take you on any day." Yamato smirked back.  
  
Koushiro blinked repeatedly. "You're thinking of running around the entire station?"  
  
"Exactly." Taichi connected both his hands and extended his elbows outwards, then pushed the elbow even further as a mean of stretching.  
  
"You're crazy. Plus, you'd be disrupting the entire station by doing that." Koushiro persisted.  
  
"No problem. We'll be gone before they realize it." Yamato tilted his neck.  
  
"Oh, you're so irresponsible. But if you insist, I'll time you."  
  
Takeru sweatdropped.  
  
Taichi and Yamato both beside one another, using a thin line on the ground caused by the tiling as the starting line.  
  
"Three. Two." Koushiro rapidly typed in a few quick commands into the computer. "One."  
  
A beep emanated from the laptop.  
  
Both Taichi and Yamato dashed off.  
  
"Woah, they run fast." Takeru stared in awe.  
  
"Yeah, they probably have plenty of practice." Koushiro assumed. "Taichi from soccer, and Yamato from running away from fangirls."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"I'm not going to lose to you!" Taichi shouted while he ran beside Yamato.  
  
"Likewise!"  
  
"Hey look! Your otou-san!" Taichi pointed towards a room that Yamato just passed.  
  
Yamato continued running, but looked back at the room.  
  
Taichi pushed Yamato into the wall.  
  
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"So, what do you think?" Koushiro questioned.  
  
"Huh? About what?" Takeru asked back in confusion.  
  
Koushiro's hand made little circles. "This. What we're doing right now, or rather, what we're going to do."  
  
"Oh. Well...it's a bit dangerous, I suppose. At some point. It'll probably be very embarrassing, since we're going to go on television, but the prize money is all worth it." Takeru briefly retorted.  
  
"So you think like that too."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
Koushiro bit his lower lip. "Don't you understand? With the way things are set up, us dressing up as girls and entering an all-girl school without being discovered? That's just like having a bomberman go into a line shaped space, then closing off his only exit with a high powered bomb without any power ups like the kick shoes or the gloves!"  
  
Sweatdrop.  
  
"I'm not sure I follow your analogy."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"That was cheap!" Yamato yelled at Taichi in between breaths.  
  
"It's not my fault!" Taichi laughed. "You just weren't careful enough!"  
  
Yamato grumbled.  
  
They each continued running, and started to decrease in speed, realizing that, they pushed themselves to their original speeds, but quickly slowed down again.  
  
"Hey Taichi! Look! It's the actresses' change room!" Yamato pointed to the widely opened door.  
  
"Yeah right, like they have the change room with the door wide open!" Taichi scoffed as he ran past the room.  
  
"..."  
  
Taichi glanced back.  
  
Yamato grabbed Taichi's head and grinded it against the soft bulletin portion of the wall.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"I'm saying that with how they have things," Koushiro said, with the side of his index finger touching his lips. "It's just as if we trapped ourselves with almost no percentage of survival."  
  
Takeru laughed nerviously. "But they...they couldn't give us an impossible objective, right? I mean, if they do that, and we all fail, they won't even have anything to air!"  
  
"I figured that too, that's why I accepted, but...well, considering the circumstances, it's not likely that we'd succeed."  
  
"But it won't be easy, even if we do." Takeru sighed.  
  
"I don't think they would offer us so much money for anything easy." Koushiro closed his eyes.  
  
"I wonder how nii-san and Taichi-san is doing."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"That hurt, you asshat!" Taichi angrily screamed at Yamato.  
  
"It's payback!" Yamato argued. "Like you pushing me into the wall didn't hurt!"  
  
At this point, both of them are significantly slower, but is still maintaining a constant pace and continuing to run.  
  
"Why don't you ask me to apologize?" Taichi mocked, his head now facing to the side, or more precisely, to Yamato.  
  
"Oh, I'm not girly enough to do so, unlike you, Mr. Spin around and pose!"  
  
"Dammit, so Takeru did tell you!" Taichi shouted to Yamato madly.  
  
Crash.  
  
"Ahahaha." Yamato laughed.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Oh look. Here they come." Takeru looked at the other end of the longer sections of the hallway, where two blurry figures close in the distance.  
  
"Is it just me, or are they crippling?" Koushiro sweatdropped.  
  
"Maybe it's the fatigue." Takeru said, trying not to imagine what actually happened.  
  
Taichi stumbled with hard steps, and Yamato closely behind him, but fall down on the line that they started on, with Yamato closely behind, and, as well, falling down on the finish line.  
  
"You, haa, you cheated!" Taichi gasped. "But, haa, I won nonetheless."  
  
"Right, how did, haa, I cheat?" Yamato forced out between breaths.  
  
"You, haa, distracted me, haa, and I crashed into the, haa, garbage can." Taichi said matter-of-factly.  
  
"That was, haa, because, haa, you're an idiot. The garbage can, haa, is 3 feet tall." Yamato put his hand on his forehead and ran it up his hair. "And, haa, it's not like that, haa, I didn't crash into something either..."  
  
Takeru blinked. "What did you crash into, nii-san?"  
  
"...Ken."  
  
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Takeru entered his room with squinty eyes. The day tired him. He rushed to his bed and collapsed on it. His hands collecting the blanket, he fell into quick slumber hugging the blanket.  
  
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Mmmmm. Okay. This chapter was a bit more eventful than humourous. Like it? No? Review! I, personally, like it pretty well. The only thing I feel bad about was how I screwed up the title. Yeah. God, I hate myself for doing that.  
  
And as you may have noticed, there's very slight Kenyako in this chapter. The reason is not because I like Kenyako really much and just decided to develop it first, but just that it had the most probable chance of doing so. Sora and Mimi aren't even introduced yet, so that won't happen. And Hikari, well, she and Takeru didn't have too much interaction in the first chapter, so that's not too likely either.  
  
There's about two more chapters to go before the actual story starts. I think I can get them both finished somehow by next week.  
  
And of course, review, review, review.  
  
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Prelude - Chapter 0.6: Seven Days (Day 5 and 6/Closing the distance to perfection)  
  
Whatever else is left over for the boys, basis around fashion and gestures. 


	7. Chapter 06: Seven days: Day 5 & 6: Closi...

Boku-tachi/Atashi-tachi  
  
Hello everyone! Back here again with a new prelude chapter. One more prelude chapter after this one until the actual story begins, which I suspect...would be finished by this weekend. Hopefully, anyway. Firstly, thanks to all those that reviewed, although reviews for the last chapter hasn't been as many as the fifth. It was, a bit disappointing, but having reviews in general was very satisfying for me, nonetheless. Anyway, I feel a bit not-lazy now, so I guess I should do this:  
  
Thanks to, if you have not already been mentioned: Karimon, Amythyst- Angel462, Miya, TogetherAgain, Chibi Mei Chan, anime mistress, Mistocean, yuyuhakusho, darei, Kawaii_Melfina, Trunks Soatome, Sailor Erin, Joutei, Zero Omega X, wisegirl, and karikamiya07.  
  
Of course, if you have already reviewed, most likely, you have been mentioned (and will be again sometime in the future), and I really appreciate your reviews. Thanks guys. ^_~  
  
I have around a page and a half of ideas that I accumulated in school now. Impressive, to me, at least. I imagine that this story itself will be quite long, considering the number of chapters I already did BEFORE the actual story. So you're probably looking at a story with a very large amount of chapters.  
  
Well...I think that's it. Enjoy and review! I really want lots of reviews. =p  
  
Disclaimer: Digimon is, in various multitudes, not mine.  
  
Prelude - Chapter 0.6: Seven Days (Day 5 and 6/Closing the distance to perfection)  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"I'm so glad you took me out, Takeru-kun." Hikari happily said.  
  
Takeru quietly smiled.  
  
They were standing before an entrance, with a person standing before it. The whole place seems dreamy. In fact, it looks dreamy as well, with floating colours all over the place.  
  
Grabbing Hikari by her hand, Takeru walked over to the entrance.  
  
"Welcome to Digital Playland." The person bowed.  
  
"I'd like two tickets, please..." Takeru requested.  
  
The person, whom Takeru can't seem to make any features out of, nodded, and took out a T-shirt.  
  
"Sign here."  
  
Takeru's brows wrinkled. "On the shirt?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
Takeru carefully signed on the shirt, making sure he doesn't accidentally slip due to the fabric.  
  
"Alright..." The person nodded again, taking the shirt. He reached under the stand and held up a very big open hand shaped board.  
  
Slap. Slap.  
  
"Alright. You may go though."  
  
"What was that all about?" Takeru held both his hands against both sides of his face, covering the red mark made by the slaps.  
  
"I have no idea." Hikari replied, not as freaked out as Takeru.  
  
"Hey! Let's go to that ride!" Hikari pointed at the fairly colourful and twisty roller coaster in front of them.  
  
Takeru looked around.  
  
The only roller coaster.  
  
"Umm. Sure." Takeru enthusiastically agreed as he walked towards the ride with her.  
  
"Wait right there."  
  
"Who's there?" Hikari frantically looked around.  
  
"It's me." A clown with a two-sided suit suddenly appeared out of thin air. "My name is Piemon."  
  
Takeru blinked. And waited. And waited. "Therefore..."  
  
"You! Haven't paid for the ride tickets yet!" Piemon pointed accusingly at Takeru.  
  
"But we paid at the entrance..." Takeru rethought his words. "Somewhat."  
  
"That was the entrance fee! Rides have individual fees!"  
  
Takeru reached inside his pant pockets.  
  
Nothing. Nothing.  
  
//Have I lost my wallet? ...Did I even have my wallet at first? I...couldn't remember.  
  
"But...I don't have any money." Takeru quietly spoke.  
  
"Well..hmm." Piemon held his hand against his chin. "You can win a ride, but if you lose..there will be a punishment!"  
  
"Win it...?" Takeru pondered. He turned around, and was met with Hikari's pleading eyes.  
  
"I'll do it."  
  
"Alright then! Let's start!" Piemon floated backwards into the air. With a few waves of his hand, a massive, hideous monster with eight spider-like legs, and a bladed tail appeared.  
  
"Meet Armagemon." Piemon proudly introduced. "If you managed to win against him, then you may be allowed to the rides."  
  
"And I'm your main attacking force!" A flying pig appeared in front of Takeru. "I'm Patamon!"  
  
"Woah, they finally crossbred a pig and a bat." Takeru whispered to himself.  
  
Patamon coughed. "Anyway, you command me to attack, and I'll use whatever attack that you commanded me to."  
  
"What is this? Pokémon?!" Takeru remarked in disbelief. "What attacks do you have?"  
  
"Er...I have...air shot and suicide." Patamon listed.  
  
(Author's note: Air shot is equivalent to what you call boom bubble, which is the dub term.)  
  
"Umm...okay! Air shot!" Takeru shouted.  
  
Patamon landed on the ground and stared Armagemon. Then fell down.  
  
"What's wrong?!" Takeru quickly ran up to Patamon and picked him up.  
  
"Patamon! Patamon! What's wrong?" Takeru violently shook Patamon, whom, in return, gave no response.  
  
"You should know that with Digimon, their attacks are reversed! When you say air shot, it's actually suicide!" Piemon laughed.  
  
"WHAAAAAT?!"  
  
"And now, for your punishment." Piemon waved his hand in the direction of Takeru. "Your true identity will be revealed..."  
  
A haze of smoke surrounded Takeru, and it quickly flew away.  
  
Takeru looked at the weird stare Hikari gave him.  
  
He looked down.  
  
A dress.  
  
"You're...a cross dresser!" Hikari gasped. "And you're probably gay, too!"  
  
"Nooo! You're mistaken!" Takeru chased Hikari.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Nooooo!" Takeru's eyes spread open.  
  
//Phew...it was only a dream.  
  
Bang. Bang.  
  
//Sick and twisted I am, having that weird ass dream.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Hey, Takeru-san, you're late." Kei stated in a disapproving tone.  
  
"I'm sorry, I overslept, and I-" Takeru frantically explained.  
  
"It's alright, it's alright. Here. Take this." Kei handed Takeru a pink panty with flowery edges.  
  
Blink.  
  
"I'm sorry, you're late, we ran out of the black panties."  
  
With wearing panties, Takeru could care less for its colour.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Today, we're going to go over the more specific things of being a girl." Kei walked back and forth within his three step range. "Firstly, we'll put you in a room with various clothing, you will have to pick out the clothing and mix and match yourself. The purpose of this, instead of us dressing you up, is in order to improve your *coughcough* sense of fashion."  
  
Koushiro swore that he heard 'nonexistent' between coughs.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"This is impossible. How am I supposed to choose out feminine clothes that look good on me?" Taichi grumbled as his hand flipped through the clothing.  
  
"Just choose clothing that look good in general." Yamato took out a shirt, looked at it, then put it back in.  
  
"Yeah. You shouldn't have too much problems with choosing feminine clothing, 'That skirt really looks good of that girl's ass'-san." Koushiro chuckled.  
  
"But my ass is a guy's ass!" Taichi protested. "A guy's ass doesn't belong in a skirt! It certainly doesn't look good in one either!"  
  
"Taichi-san?" Ken interrupted. "Have you felt your...ahem, behind lately?"  
  
"What are you talking about? I don't caress my ass on regular basis-" Taichi froze as he reached behind. "This is not my ass."  
  
"Have you heard of 'estrogen', Taichi-san?"  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Kei looked as he was presented with five girl-looking people, each wearing casual, slightly feminine clothes, which would otherwise be bisexual looking clothing. Four, he corrected himself.  
  
"Taichi-san..." Kei walked over to him. "Girls don't wear jerseys."  
  
"Why not?" Taichi asked.  
  
"They don't wear only jerseys." Kei coughed. "I can see your bra and breasts."  
  
"What's wrong with that? I've seen girls do it in this movie that I saw-" Taichi continued as Kei pushed him back into the changing room.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"What does he mean 'Dress as if you're going to a dance'?" Takeru repeated, confused.  
  
Yamato sighed. "I think it's not like a formal ball, but...just something really.elegant and fancy."  
  
"Elegant...like this?" Koushiro held up a black dress, which starts at the above the breasts, and goes down to mid-thighs, and then splitting into a front/back two piece fabric that allows the rest of the legs to be seen at the side, plus, lots of intentional holes in the dress, which can be known because of its shape, but revealing holes nonetheless.  
  
"No. That's too slutty." Yamato scoffed.  
  
"Oh, right. I'm sorry." Koushiro apologized as he handed Yamato the dress.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Pretty good." Kei approved.  
  
The boys all wore something similar, most likely so that if it were approved, they'd all pass. It all consisted of a dark colour, and covered from a bit above the chest and reached down to the knees, and is quite covered, unlike that last one.  
  
Kei did bite his lips when he noticed some of them wore it backwards.  
  
"Where's Taichi-san?" Takeru looked around.  
  
"Oh...umm. Taichi-san. He's being given a lesson upon what kind of clothes should be worn in public."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"For now, I think you'll mostly need your casual clothes only. The other stuff...it'll come to use when it's needed. There's not a big difference between that and normal clothes that you wore. You should be pretty comfy in it."  
  
Ken looked down at his purple long sleeved shirt and same coloured pants, which gives an impression of a one-piece from far away.  
  
Koushiro tugged at his light brown shirt, coupled with a pair of dark blue khakis, which has been modified so that the proportions look different to make for a more feminine look.  
  
Takeru shifted his shoulders a bit, so that his white shirt - that has distinctively black sleeves, which are too long for him, causing only his fingers to be visible from it - fits more comfortably with him. He would do the same to his light blue skirt (Yamato, Koushiro, and Ken had forced it on him and the time was up before he could change out of it), except that the accident in the change room might happen again if he did.  
  
Yamato was dressed in a dark blue-buttoned shirt, and pair of slimmed black pants, which made him look somewhat like a business woman.  
  
"Oi..." Taichi mumbled as he trotted into the room.  
  
With a red shirt and jeans.  
  
"He's...portraying a tomboy." Kei sighed.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Yamato rested on his bed, facing the ceiling. Holding a non-existent guitar, his left hand started to travel back and forth down the guitar neck, sometimes holding chords, sometimes simply depressing one string on a fret at a time, and his right hand, simply moving his thumb, index, and middle fingers slightly, imitating the plucking of a string. He closed his eyes and his arms dropped to his side as the slightest of lights stopped travelling through the window.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Koushiro, try crossing your legs."  
  
"Un." Koushiro nodded as he lifted his right leg, and rested the side of his calf on his left thigh, making a perpendicular formation.  
  
"No, not like this, you know, how girls cross their legs..." Kei instructed.  
  
"I can't do that! I'm not flexible enough..." Koushiro refused.  
  
"You'll have to try." Kei said as he forcefully pushed the right knee on top of the left.  
  
"AHHHHHHHHH!"  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"I don't like skirts." Taichi complained.  
  
"It's not like you have a choice. Taichi-san. Try running."  
  
Nod.  
  
Step. Step.  
  
Step. Step. Step. Step. Step.  
  
Clunk.  
  
"Taichi-san. The point of this is to not let the skirt trip you." Kei chuckled.  
  
"How do I do that?" Taichi asked as he slowly got back up, try not letting the long skirt interfere with that either.  
  
Kei scratched the side of his head. "You can try and attempt to have some way so that the skirt becomes shorter than it is now for a temporary period of time." Kei hinted, thinking of grabbing a fold of the skirt and pulling it upwards, how most girls do it.  
  
"Oh." Taichi pondered.  
  
Tick tock.  
  
Tick tock.  
  
Taichi walked over to the lunch table, and grabbed a pair of unused wooden chopsticks. Breaking the two apart, he held one in one hand, and threw the other back onto the table. He then folded the skirt upwards into several layers, then jabbed the chopstick through the layers, sustaining them.  
  
"Like this?" Taichi proudly announced.  
  
"...Not quite."  
  
Rip.  
  
"Like this?"  
  
"No."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Okay, Yamato-san. Pretend a guy is flirting with you from afar, how do you react?"  
  
Flick.  
  
"No, you don't give them the finger. You usually just flirt back by some facial expressions, or you just ignore them."  
  
Yamato nods.  
  
"How about if you're really happy and you want to express it unintentionally?" Kei said in almost too little of a voice.  
  
"No, I won't jump like Chun-Li." Yamato glanced at the hidden cameras behind the glass.  
  
"Then...err...how about adjusting your bra?"  
  
Yamato inwardly glanced at the camera again.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Fight."  
  
"Fight?" Ken repeated in a confused tone.  
  
"With each other?" Takeru asked unsurely.  
  
"Yep." Kei answered firmly.  
  
"Umm...okay."  
  
Shift. Shift.  
  
Deck.  
  
"Ow!" Ken screamed as he landed on the ground.  
  
"Nonono!" Kei ran in the distance between them to stop any further wasted efforts. "Fight, like girls."  
  
"Fight like girls?" Takeru repeated, which was starting to get on Kei's nerves.  
  
"Yes. Like girls."  
  
"How do girls fight?" Takeru wrinkled his forehead.  
  
"Well...erm...bitchslaps, pulling of hair, scratching, maybe some kicking?"  
  
"Hahaha, hair pulling. I'll have an advantage." Takeru laughed.  
  
"Not really. Your long hair is temporarily glued to your head as well." Kei reminded.  
  
Glare.  
  
Jump.  
  
Slap slap.  
  
Pull.  
  
"Ow!" Takeru twitched to Ken's vengeful attacks.  
  
Scratch.  
  
Rip.  
  
"Not there!"  
  
"Well, this ought to boost the ratings." Kei mumbled to himself.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Koushiro stumbled into his room, his eyes half closed, or half open, he would say. Unable to tell the slight contrasts in the room, he approached the bright computer screen.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Well, that was a short chapter. It was released quite late as well, I'm sorry for that. I know that I said that the other chapter would be done by the weekend, I guess I can't do that. The weekend has given me quite some pressures on homework. But I think that I'll get it done by mid-week.  
  
Oh yeah. Pleeeeeease review. I'm one of those freaks that stare at the computer monitor every day and refreshing my review box every five minutes in order to find new reviews there, and under all my homework, reviews are a great encouragement! I certainly hope that I get more reviews for this chapter, or else I'll mumble and bitchslap myself for trying to write another chapter when there aren't a lot of reviews. Please review lots~! I'm getting repetitive. Oh well. Once more wouldn't hurt: Review review review! ^_~  
  
Prelude - Chapter 0.7: Seven Days (Day 7/Sa, iko!)  
  
Final preparations and arrival to the Sakura all-girl's dormitory/school. An unexpected surprise awaits?! 


	8. Chapter 07: Seven days: Day 7: Sa, iko! ...

Boku-tachi/Atashi-tachi  
  
Oiya! Hello everyone. There's a day off school tomorrow, so I decided to use this time and write another chapter. Anyway, great thanks to all those lovely reviews. You're all so great. ^^ Firstly. Thanks from last chapter to...: I, and Shimegami Shibayama. And thanks overall to the following constant reviewers: TheAngelofLove, Jing, Kou Da Cutie, Takerus Lost Angel, Kaz, yuyuhakusho, and karikamiya07, in initial posting chronological order. Of course, I'm such a klutz, if I missed any of you, remember to drop me an e-mail, or something in the review box, and I'll fix you back in. Or I'll put you in the next chapter, whichever becomes more convenient. Anyway...  
  
Oi! This is the eighth and last chapter of the prelude section of Boku/Ata. Well. ::opens champagne:: ::ahem:: Anyway, thank you all for your continual support for this fiction, I'm very very touched. What was an experimental not-so-long fiction will probably be...longer now. Most certainly, it will reach two digit chapters, but that's to be expected. I hope that this story will have quite some chapters, like twenty something (of course, unless, my fellow readers get bored, at which I will promptly end it by putting 'The End' at some random chapter that has no ending). Of course, I'll pause sometimes during writing this story and switch to writing some other fanfics for a time. Oi, I'm rambling. This chapter will be quite shorter. Anyway anyway, enjoy!  
  
New addition: [ ] brackets by themselves without the // tag stand for radio transmission, which is introduced this chapter, as heard from the ear piece, and ( ) will denote who unless it's obvious.  
  
Disclaimer: Same old, Toei owns Digimon, and I do not.  
  
Prelude - Chapter 0.7: Seven Days (Day 7/Sa, iko!)  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Koushiro rubbed his sleepy eyes.  
  
//This is the end of the week...  
  
Stretching, he got up from in front of the computer, at which he had been sleeping on.  
  
Koushiro gently touched his own face.  
  
Keyboard imprints.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Anything before we go?" Kei asked, his hands at his waist.  
  
Shake of heads.  
  
"Lovely. But first..." Kei threw a whole bunch of clear crescent shaped plastics on the desk. "Each of you take one of these and stick it inside your ear."  
  
"This would be...the receiver to our clear mouth piece?" Ken asked while he slipped the plastic inside the outer curve of his ear.  
  
"Correct." Kei grinned. "These pieces are actually quite accurate and versatile, and durable, as well. I don't believe that there's a place in Japan where you can hide to be unable to receive signals with those. Anything you say will most probably be heard over on the terminal in the station. Of course, we also have the electronic flying...bug things to keep you on watch."  
  
"But it's quite easy to take these off," Koushiro observed. "and dodging the bugs won't be too hard either."  
  
"In the case you do that, we'll have to bring you back for a spanking."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Are you all packed up, Yamato?" Taichi looked over to Yamato as he walked down the hallway.  
  
"Pretty much. The only thing I'm missing is my guitar, but that thing is too bulky to bring in the first place. I guess I'll have to get it afterwards or buy another one." Yamato frowned; the fact of him not only wasting money, but buying an unfamiliar guitar disturbed him.  
  
Taichi sighed. "Life will be pretty hectic after today, don't you think?"  
  
"Probably." Yamato bit his lower lip. "It wouldn't be easy, but I'd just hope that it all passes away quickly."  
  
"It's going to be so weird..." Taichi chuckled. "But I don't think it will be any weirder than Kei."  
  
[If you want to talk bad about me, do it when you're not in Japan.]  
  
"Sorry."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"We're all set..." Ken said, lying back in the farthest seat back in the van.  
  
"Taichi-san and Yamato-san will be here in a bit..." Kei looked outside the window. "We have a bit of time, Takeru-san, could you come over for a moment?" Kei opened the door and stepped out of the van, turned around, signalled Takeru, then walked back into the building.  
  
Takeru blinked, stood up, walked between the narrow space between Ken and the seat in front, and exited the van, following Kei to the building.  
  
Kei stopped walking right in front of the tall structure, then held his index and middle finger a bit before his ear, and talked facing downwards, as if talking to a phone. Whatever Kei said, Takeru couldn't hear due to the distance and Kei's volume.  
  
"Ah, it's good." Kei half ran to Takeru. "It's already set up here, so we can do things faster."  
  
"What...is set up?" Takeru gulped, wrinkling his brows.  
  
"Shh." Kei held a finger before his lips, and closed his eyes, as if waiting patiently for something to be heard.  
  
Sounds of the wind blowing.  
  
Kei nodded as he stepped back. "Stand there." Kei commanded.  
  
Large gusts of wind hit Takeru straight, his arms reflexively pushing down his skirt, which was being flung up. Hundred flashes of light blinded him.  
  
"Ah...sorry about that. I was vexed over what kind of photos that I needed to take to finish the photo collection." Kei explained. "I thought I would have something more...climatic taken before you leave."  
  
Yamato and Taichi, dotted eyed, watched from afar.  
  
"Oh, nii-san." Takeru sobbed as he ran to Yamato.  
  
"Good thing I don't wear a skirt." Taichi whispered to himself.  
  
[That's a pretty good idea, actually.]  
  
Kei smirked at the use of radio communication in reachable distance.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Two pairs." Ken laid the cards down on the shaking surface of the table.  
  
"A full house." Koushiro gave a confident smile. Although constant eye motion within the van did make him want to vomit.  
  
"Uh...2, 4, 6, 8, 10." Taichi put down the cards one by one. "That's something, isn't it?"  
  
"No, it isn't, Taichi." Koushiro shook his head.  
  
"Well, they should make it so that it's something."  
  
"And a straight flush." Yamato let down the cards in a fan formation, Takeru clapping behind him.  
  
"Who was the fag that dealt such crappy cards?" Taichi yelled out in anger, losing for the sixth time.  
  
"You're that fag." Yamato restrained himself from laughing.  
  
Kei, sitting in the front seat, turned his body right (Asian cars have driver seats on the right) to see what was happening at the back.  
  
"Are you guys playing strip poker?"  
  
"No!" Takeru swiftly replied.  
  
"Oh." Kei said as he put his camera back into the bag.  
  
"We're returning into the Odaiba District." The driver announced as he made a turn.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"We're here." Kei announced. "The Sakura all-girls dormitory."  
  
"I've gone past the Sakura all-girls school before, but this doesn't look like it..." Ken noted.  
  
"We're at the back of the dormitory section, the entire area is composed of four corners and the area in between, the four corners being the front and back of the school and dormitory, split into two section of buildings, with the school being more majorly grouped, and the dormitory being quite scattered. What people usually see when they cross Odaiba Kaihin Park is the front side of the school, so that's why you don't recognize it." Kei flawlessly explained.  
  
"It's one day before the opening ceremonies, most of the students should be outside spending their last day before school, you can use this time to go in. All dormitories are grouped into three sections, the 100, 200, and 300 sections. Being registered so late, we could only get you into the 300 section, which is the farthest from the school itself. The dormitories consist of small individual outdoor housings, each small house with two sides, for two groups to live in. Your dormitory room number is 351. I have some errands to run, I think you can do okay from here on." Kei continued as he opened the van door, and kicked each individual along with their luggage out.  
  
"Use the com to call me if you need help," Kei loudly said with his hand outside the window, dropping a chain of keys onto the grass. "Good luck, girls!"  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Wow..." Ken mumbled as he strolled towards his destination. "This place is incredible. I've never seen dormitories built on such a beautiful field...It's full of blooming Sakura trees, bright green grass, fresh white- "  
  
"This place isn't even a dormitory. Dormitories are supposed to be a residential hall inside the building, this place is like a series of holiday cottages built on grassland." Koushiro scoffed. "To think they actually afforded all this for a public school, the only restriction being it's girls only."  
  
"No matter, right? Since we're going to be the ones living here now." Takeru grinned sheepishly, almost ashamed of what he said.  
  
"This is some unbelievable place." Yamato reached down. "Look at this, every day, someone comes and waters and takes care of all the plants, just for the dormitory section. Looking at this field, it's really lots of work. There are certainly no profits out of this either..."  
  
"Screw the profits! Let's go already, I need to piss!" Taichi impatiently complained.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Takeru blinked as he went through the door, just coming up from the stairs outside. A hallway followed, and it branched into two, going left and right. At the right end, a door with the number 351 was distinctively seen. That has to be their room. Takeru eyed various other closed doors along the hallway. Nervously, he only followed the other boys. It was not that he would get lost, that would be impossible. The place was smaller than his house, although prettier. The thought of opening any door leading to trouble scared him infinitely. Being last, he entered, then closed the door labelled 351.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Argh!" Taichi dropped his luggage on the floor, then looked around the room.  
  
One door. Two doors. Three doors.  
  
Sweatdrop.  
  
Taichi rushed to the closest door, opened it, and rushed inside.  
  
"Taichi, please don't piss in the closet." Koushiro called out after him.  
  
Taichi quickly walked back out, a bit hopping. Not hopping mad due to embarrassment, but due to the need to release. He ran to the second door, opened it. His eyes glinted.  
  
Slam.  
  
"Let's start packing, Takeru." Ken picked up his own luggage and started carrying it across the room.  
  
"Un." Takeru nodded.  
  
"AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"  
  
"Taichi!" Yamato shouted as he ran inside the washroom, followed by Koushiro.  
  
Taichi was standing there, his legs shaking.  
  
"What's wrong, Taichi?"  
  
Taichi pointed at the toilet. "The toil...toilet seat. It won't come up! No matter how hard I pulled it up, it won't come up!!"  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Do you have any bandages?" Koushiro asked Takeru.  
  
"...I don't think so. Why?" Takeru questioned back as he shoved more clothes into the closet.  
  
"Well...Yamato just kicked the crap out Taichi and all. If Taichi manages to successfully piss, I think we'll need some for Yamato too."  
  
"Ah, too bad."  
  
Ken sifted his pockets. "Ah, there it is." Ken reached onto the desk and grabbed the card, quickly scanned for a long numeral value, then dropped it again.  
  
//I should at least call Inoue-san to tell her that I won't be free...  
  
"What's this?" Takeru walked over and picked up the card, and read it. "Oh! This is that card that girl-" Takeru's pupils dilated. The oddity he had picked up long times ago had returned.  
  
"Don't call! Stop! Ken!"  
  
"What?" Ken turned around as he punched in the last digit.  
  
A ring echoed through the hall and past the door, reaching the ears of both Ken and Takeru.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Yagami Hikari  
  
Inoue Miyako  
  
81-3 51xxxxxx  
  
Sakura Dormitory: Room 350  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Jokyoku - ~Owari~  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Ah, that's another chapter. First thing: I know that dormitory refers to a residential hall in college, and this is a high school setting, and it's...not a residential hall at all. I've totally distorted the definition (but I forgive myself), however, I didn't know a better word to use. It's outdoors because I like the environment, some scenes will be greatly helped by it. It's not college because all the main characters in this story are still in their teens. It's cuter that way. If you can't stand my using the word dormitory because of its different definition, then t('-'t ). No, just kidding. I don't feel like using that word any more anyway, I don't think you'll see any more of it.  
  
Ah, a fresh new start, the end of the prelude.  
  
By the way, if you didn't understand, what 'Jokyoku' meant, it meant 'Prelude'. I'm sure most of you know what 'Owari' is, it means 'End', if you didn't know. The whole thing is starting to look pretty good! (Except I'm still very pissed off at the title, which should be Boku-tachi/Atashi- tachi instead of whatever the hell it says, because suddenly, I'm not allowed to use - and /)  
  
So, that's that. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please review lots, and lots, and lots, and lots more? If you review more, I'll write more? Please?  
  
Now that I got that out of the way, I can finally start reading fanfics as well. Didn't have the time for that.  
  
One last remainder: Review!  
  
-Lumi 


	9. Episode 1: One Year, Today

Boku-tachi/Atashi-tachi  
  
Hello everyone! Many thanks to those who read this fic, and reviewed it (doing either will make me, unconsciously, label you as my supporters. Bwahaha)! I hope that you will continuing reading and enjoying this fic. I'm try to cut my rant/blabber short this time. ^_~  
  
Story system recap/new additions:  
  
This story utilises the original Japanese names of Digimon Adventure 02.  
  
Japanese original name - English dub name + Age within story  
  
Yagami Taichi - Tai Kamiya (16 years old)  
  
Ishida Yamato - Matt Ishida (16 years old)  
  
Takenouchi Sora - Sora Takenouchi (16 years old)  
  
Tachikawa Mimi - Mimi Tachikawa (15 years old)  
  
Takaishi Takeru - T.K. Takaishi (13 years old)  
  
Yagami Hikari - Kari Kamiya (13 years old)  
  
Izumi Koushiro - Izzy Izumi (15 years old)  
  
Ichijouji Ken - Ken Ichijouji (13 years old)  
  
Inoue Miyako - Yolie Inoue (14 years old)  
  
Kido Jyou - Joe Kido (17 years old)  
  
Motomiya Daisuke - Davis Motomiya (13 years old)  
  
Hida Iori - Cody Hida (11 years old)  
  
Well, that's that. The ages are based on the official age differences between characters, then they are done upon correspondence to the story, so that it would still make sense while the ages are somewhat correct, since this is an alternate universe, as long as the age differences are correct, I'd say pretty much so.  
  
Those who actually know something about Japanese and romanizing would notice my inconsistency in spelling character names. Well. Only one. I spelt Jou as Jyou, which would technically be correct, except that if I do things that was, Ken's last name would be Ichijyouji. I'm not ready to spell Ichijouji as Ichijyouji, but I'm too used to Jyou to keep reminding myself to spell it otherwise, so please forgive me inconsistency. ^^ Those who don't know what I'm talking about can skip this part and forget I said anything.  
  
Thought system:  
  
//[character name] put thought here.  
  
Note that the [] bracket will only be there if it's not obvious who was thinking it, or if I don't intend to make it known if it's not obvious.  
  
Radio transmission system:  
  
[(character name talking - character name listening) put message here.]  
  
If you read my previous eight chapters (hell, it would work even if you just read the last one), you would understand what this means. Again, the () would only be inserted if I wanted to state the names in a situation where it's not obvious.  
  
Music system:  
  
BGM/Vocal: Song name  
  
This is something new. To semi-fulfill my dream of making an anime, I'd like to write scenes, then sometimes add that tag on to there, and play a song within that scene. I sometimes might add a line or two like a song fic, but I'm not going to add the entire song. Yeah, you're better off looking in some lyrics archive than that. If you don't feel like playing the music on your computer, if you don't have the song, or if you're playing another song if you don't want to change, just ignore me. I won't force you to do it then threaten to kill you if you won't, I think it's just a great little additive to mood. Be warned, though, please imagine the scene, take lots of close ups, and panning as if it's an anime and imagine that scene as long as possible, because I can't write a scene that lasts for an entire song. =p  
  
Answering two questions that popped up in my review box:  
  
TheAngelOfLove: "...How are u gonna base it? One chapter 4 every month? ??"  
  
The chaptering will be done...quite randomly. I'll categorize chapters into seasons, and basically write everything I can that could occur in that season as separate chapters until I run out and go to the next one. I hope that answers your question. Which it probably has not.  
  
wisegirl: "...Hey, what the heck actually happened to the toilet seat?"  
  
It's an all-girl's school, not to mention it's inside a girl's living quarters, it's not likely that the girls will ever need to lift up the toilet seat, so they glued it down when they installed it. =)  
  
Mention to my new reviewers: mysticalkidz, Becky, Snoopy6458, BMAngelz, blue eyes.  
  
Thank you for your reviews, as well as everyone else that reviewed. If you've never been mentioned, remember to smack me on the head through e- mail or through the review box to let me know!  
  
Also, the boys will mostly be referred to their true nature, with their real names and 'he', outside of dialogue.  
  
Oh boy. I really typed up a lot. It's like I'm taking up a thousand words with these here. Anyway. Enjoy!  
  
Just before I forget. School starts in April for Japan, and it ends around March/April-ish. I believe most holidays stay intact.  
  
Random: I updated my bio, please go read it and give your impressions of my upcoming projects along with your review.  
  
Also, the actual story now would be more of plot and interaction than of randomness and jokes. Truthfully, I might do a lot of chapters, and I can't guarantee that I would be able to come up with at least one or two jokes that crack you up for every chapter. Sorry. But I'll try, though.  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon Adventures, nor its sequels, nor its nonexistent prequels. Except the first movie, that kind of counts as a prequel. Ah, cut that. Also, anything of Sony's, whose name I mention in this story, doesn't belong to me as well.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Episode 1: One Year, Today  
  
Bo-ku-ta-chi: we (masc.), the group with me (masc.)  
  
A-ta-shi-ta-chi: we (fem.), the group with me (fem.)  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
April 4, 2002  
  
Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring.  
  
Takeru watched in horror as the reaction started from here and ended up *there* across the hall.  
  
"Put it down! Put the phone down!" Takeru screamed, although careful enough not to raise his voice.  
  
Ken quickly slammed the phone down, and the ringing across the hall promptly stopped simultaneously.  
  
Koushiro blinked. "You..." He pointed at the phone. "And...?" He pointed at the door, meaning to point past it.  
  
"Er...pretty much." Ken gulped, sweat dropping down his face.  
  
"Damn...that's..." Koushiro ran out of words. "Yeah."  
  
"I didn't know...god, how could I be so stupid?!" Ken groaned as he slammed his hand on the table. "It's written right on the card, in bold print!"  
  
Sounds of footsteps.  
  
Koushiro looked at Takeru.  
  
Takeru looked at Ken.  
  
Ken looked at Koushiro.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Yeah, I'm sure it's this room." Miyako knocked on the door twice. "Excuse me, is anyone there?"  
  
"Maybe no one's there." Hikari pictured.  
  
"Yeah, that room was always vacant, Sora-chan. We've lived here for years, how could it be that someone suddenly moved in without us knowing?"  
  
"Well, it's not like people take weeks to move in. If they move in, they just move in like in an hour, whether we were here or not before doesn't matter, Mimi-chan." Sora retorted.  
  
"Fine." Mimi bit the inside of her cheek in dissatisfaction.  
  
"Let's go in." Miyako suggested.  
  
Hikari frowned. "Wait, Miyako-chan, if there's someone in there, then-"  
  
Tweak.  
  
"There's no one in there." Sora observed. "Maybe there really is no one here."  
  
Mimi stepped into the room, scanning around for any possible people, although any would've been obvious. "Whose stupid idea was it that there were people here?"  
  
Miyako held her hand at her waist. "It was *my* idea."  
  
"Why do you think there were people here, Miyako-chan?" Hikari asked doubtfully.  
  
"Well, the caller ID displayed a number that was just adjacent to our phone number, so it had to be this room, all the rooms' telephone numbers are put into numerical order according to room number." Miyako explained, her hands still on her hips.  
  
//[Koushiro] Oh my god, they give you a place to live in that's next to the school that's this nice, and then, to top it off, you have caller ID installed onto your telephone. This is some spoiled school.  
  
"Well, I think Miyako-chan is right." Hikari agreed, lightly tapping the bag on the ground with her feet.  
  
//[Takeru] Damn it! We forgot to take in Taichi's bags. We're screwed now.  
  
"Do you think maybe they just left the stuff here and went out for a bit?" Sora presumed.  
  
//[Taichi] Yes we did! Yes we did! We're not here! Go outside! Look for us outside! Do whatever!  
  
"Of course not, they phoned our room only like one minute ago, and that was including the time we used to get here." Miyako defended.  
  
//[Taichi] Damn you, damn you to hellllllll!  
  
//[Yamato] Stop whispering your curses in my ear, Taichi.  
  
Rattle.  
  
Blink.  
  
//[Ken] Oops. Sorry.  
  
Miyako quickly opened the closet, to find Takeru and Ken stuffed in there.  
  
"Uh...hello." Ken greeted.  
  
"Umm...I told you that the washroom wasn't here, Ken...ko! Yeah, Kenko!" Takeru lightly laughed as he exited the closet, closely followed by Ken.  
  
"You're...going to live here, right?" Sora asked. "I'm Takenouchi Sora, nice to meet you."  
  
"Oh...umm, I'm...Shiikata Take...ko, and he's..."  
  
Stomp.  
  
"I mean she is..."  
  
"I'm Jiujochii Kenko." Ken said as he shook Sora's hand.  
  
Miyako held her hand at her chin. "You know, you two really look familiar."  
  
"No, we don't." Takeru firmly denied.  
  
"Yes. That's right. You look like Ichijouji Ken!" Miyako accusingly pointed.  
  
"Uh..." Ken stepped back. "I...do?"  
  
"Yes! You do!"  
  
Silence.  
  
Ken slowly brought both his hands up to his eyes. "I knew it...*sniff*. People in my...*gulp* old school keep saying that I look like Ichijouji Ken, a guy...*sniff*, and...they bullied me because of it, *sniff*, I couldn't stand it, that's why I decided to come here, *sniff*, and now...it's no different!" Ken weakly uttered.  
  
Takeru blinked, and started to pet Ken's back.  
  
"That was mean of you, Miyako-chan!" Hikari scolded.  
  
"Bu...but I was just saying that-" Miyako stammered. "And you!" Miyako pointed. "I've seen you somewhere."  
  
"It's déjà vu!" Takeru stated.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Déjà vu! Déjà vu!" Takeru frantically repeated. "I'm sure we've never seen each other before, okay, bye now." Takeru pulled Ken and reached for the door.  
  
And was stopped.  
  
Mimi grabbed Takeru's arm. "I'm sorry. Miyako-chan can be a bit...stubborn and self-righteous sometimes..."  
  
A few remarks which Mimi ignored.  
  
"Please forgive us."  
  
Takeru dumbly nodded.  
  
Creak.  
  
Koushiro casually walked out. "See! I told you that the washroom was big enough to hold three people!"  
  
Taichi and Yamato blinked.  
  
Pinch.  
  
"Yeah, totally, the washroom is so..." Yamato corresponded with Koushiro.  
  
"Fascinating." Taichi ended.  
  
"Yes, that."  
  
Blink.  
  
"These really are weird people, going to the bathroom three at a time." Mimi whispered to Sora.  
  
"Oh, umm...hello. And you guys are..."  
  
"Oh, let me introduce." Hikari stood out. "This is Takenouchi Sora, Tachikawa Mimi, Inoue Miyako, and I myself, Yagami Hikari."  
  
Each respective person bowed when her name was mentioned.  
  
"Oh, umm." Koushiro pointed at Taichi. "That's Migaya Taiko, Daishii Yamako, Jiujochii Kenko, Shiikata Takeko, and I'm Mizui Koushiko."  
  
Each of them simply nodded.  
  
"Why do you have 'ko' at the end of all your names? It's kind of weird for all of you to have it." Sora brought out.  
  
"It's...that our...umm, mothers, they made a pact that when they have a baby, they'll name them ending in 'ko'!" Koushiro stuttered. Secretly, Koushiro was impressed with himself for his improvisation ability.  
  
"Ah. That's interesting, Kou-chan." Mimi nodded.  
  
Blink.  
  
"...Kou-chan?"  
  
"Oh yeah." Sora reached into her pocket, and took out a piece of folded paper, which she handed to Koushiro.  
  
Takeru and Ken quickly walked over to see the sheet.  
  
( Sakura school rules:  
  
1) Except for formal occasions, everyone must call each other's first name with the suffix -chan, truncating names is recommended.  
  
2) Everyone must wear skirts during school hours.  
  
3) No boys are allowed within the entire area without proper permission.  
  
4) No boys are to dress up as girls. )  
  
Exchange of glances.  
  
"It's pretty strange, since the fourth rule was just added lately, and..." Hikari mentioned. "It's not like anyone would do that to get in here, right?"  
  
Everyone laughed.  
  
Half of them laughed in fear.  
  
"Umm...so, what is the matter?" Takeru carefully asked.  
  
"Oh, Miyako-chan said that she saw on the caller ID that someone phoned from this room, then quickly hung up, we were just seeing who it was, and what was the matter."  
  
Stares at Ken.  
  
"Oh, I was just testing...the...um, phone. I thought that if...I subtracted...one from our number, it would...reach...your number." Ken mumbled.  
  
"Oh. I see."  
  
Miyako clearly didn't buy it.  
  
"Miyako-chan, stop being so paranoid." Sora scolded. "You're scaring the new girls."  
  
"Well, I-"  
  
Mimi pushed Miyako out of the door.  
  
"I'm really sorry." Hikari apologized as she followed Mimi out as well.  
  
Sora walked out the door, then turned around.  
  
"Why don't you join us for lunch later?"  
  
Taichi quickly rushed up and closed the door.  
  
Panting.  
  
"That was...dangerous." Yamato sat down.  
  
"So much for you to say, you didn't even mumble a word." Koushiro protested.  
  
"Those two older girls were looking at me funny." Yamato sighed. "I think they recognize me."  
  
"Or maybe it's just that you look funny." Taichi added.  
  
Crack.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
12:30 post meridiem  
  
Knock knock.  
  
"Yes, coming!"  
  
Taichi opened the door, and was faced with Sora.  
  
"We're going to lunch right now. Do you want to come with us?" Sora politely asked.  
  
"Umm. Sure. Let me get the rest of them." Taichi replied.  
  
Squint.  
  
"Is that blood dripping from your forehead?"  
  
Taichi laughed sheepishly. "I got into a small accident."  
  
"Oh my, are you okay?" Sora reached out a hand towards Taichi's forehead, but Taichi instinctively took a step back.  
  
"I'm better off than the other end of the accident."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"The school cafeteria isn't open yet since school hasn't started, so let's go somewhere else." Miyako said.  
  
"Ugh, it's not like we want to go to that crappy place to eat anyway." Mimi made a sick face.  
  
"How about...we go to that restaurant down the street?" Hikari suggested.  
  
Sora shrugged. "Fine by me."  
  
"I'm good too."  
  
"What about you guys?" Sora turned around.  
  
To see a bunch of blank faces.  
  
"I guess they agree."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
And so, they were walking down the streets, in an obvious two-group formation. The cause of this formation was due to the four girls walking at normal speed, and the other five 'girls' walking like a snail. Of course, some attempted to walk backwards, but quickly reverted as the girls in front noticed.  
  
"Isn't this a bit dangerous?" Ken whispered. "You know. Hanging out with them."  
  
"It's not like we have a choice, Taichi said yes." Yamato complained, and kicking Taichi in his mind. Kicking Taichi to a bloody pulp.  
  
"Hey, she asked, I can't just go and...reject her offer." Taichi defended.  
  
Koushiro scratched his head. "Why not?"  
  
"Because...! If a girl asks you out, you don't reject her..." Taichi crossed his arms.  
  
"Well, aren't we going to have a bloody great time." Yamato remarked.  
  
"If we stay with them for too long, our cover will get blown." Takeru considered.  
  
Sighs.  
  
Silence.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
They arrived in front of a fairly modern looking restaurant, modern because it looks clean.  
  
"I heard the things here aren't great, but they're okay." Hikari opened the door, immediately followed by Ken and Takeru.  
  
Thump.  
  
Thump thump.  
  
"I also heard that they have this big step that people fall for after the door." Mimi giggled.  
  
Takeru stood up painfully, then reached for Hikari, helping her up.  
  
Miyako looked down from behind the door. "Ken-chan, aren't you going to get up? We might step on you if you keep lying there."  
  
"Uh...I think I twisted my ankle or something. Try to avoid me. I'll be okay, I'll come in a bit."  
  
The rest jumped down from the step and proceeded inside, and Hikari and Takeru followed them.  
  
"Take!" Ken waved at Takeru. "Take-*chan*!"  
  
Takeru turned around, feeling somewhat sensitive to that ending. He walked towards Ken, and crouched beside his lying body.  
  
"Come closer."  
  
Takeru sighed, and moved his head closer to Ken's.  
  
"Mmm bmmm hmmm hmph." Ken hummed.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Mmm bmmm hmmm hmph." Ken repeated.  
  
"I have no idea what you're saying."  
  
"My boob fell off!" Ken said again, his lips shut.  
  
"Oh." Takeru laughed, his hand clamping on his mouth to prevent him exploding.  
  
"It's under me." Ken shook his head downwards.  
  
"Get it yourself." Takeru jeered.  
  
"Who was the one that twisted my ankle, then both my arms by crushing both my arms with his pressure by having me as his big landing cushion?" Ken returned in anger.  
  
Takeru gasped. "Your arms can't move?"  
  
"They could, but...just a bit hard to move. I can't twist it, especially my elbow joint." Ken attempted to bend his arm, but it resulted in a pained look. "Just get it. It's under my back."  
  
Takeru shook his head in defeat, and pushed his arm under Ken, in which he immediately retrieved a beige coloured piece of...thing.  
  
"Help me put it back on." Ken ordered.  
  
"What? Put it on yourself!" Takeru responded, disgusted.  
  
"My arms can't bend."  
  
"But there are people here, are you crazy?" Takeru cried out in disbelief.  
  
"There's none here now."  
  
"Oi. Fine." Takeru took the bottom of Ken's shirt and lifted it up a bit.  
  
"Wait."  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"Is it on the right side?" Ken raised one of his brows.  
  
"Right side? What are you talking about? How is there a right side? It's not like I'm going to put it so that your breast will look like one big out facing jelly cup." Takeru answered, confused.  
  
"No! I mean...like...see if the tip is facing correctly."  
  
"The tip?" Takeru stared at the piece of spongy plastic.  
  
"Yes, the tip. That's the...thing. You know." Ken stuttered, unable to find words appropriate enough to say.  
  
Takeru blinked. "Oooh." Takeru said as if something stuck him. "Yeah, I think it's on the right side."  
  
Takeru lifted Ken's shirt up a little, and stuffed his hand, along with the articial breast, in it, searching for the right area.  
  
"Uh...hmm. More...umm...to the left. Up a bit. Yes. Right there, that's the place..."  
  
"What a bold lesbian couple." A teenager mumbled to his friend while they passed by.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Here they are." Sora watched as Takeru and Ken, whose actions seem fairly unnatural, walked to their table.  
  
Miyako handed them a menu as they sat down, on the one of two sides which Taichi, Yamato, and Koushiro sat. "Are you alright? You look a bit weird."  
  
"Yeah, I'm alright, .Miyako-chan. It's that I think I twisted my arms a little. I can't believe they have such a big step there without warning. It's so dangerous there."  
  
Taichi tossed Ken another menu. "Shut up and order already."  
  
"...H-she seems a little pissed." Ken whispered to Takeru.  
  
"Kei forced Taichi to order a non-meat meal." Koushiro said, spreading his voice by moving his head behind Takeru's.  
  
"Kei?" Takeru moved his lips minimally, and spoke so softly that even he himself could barely hear it.  
  
"The earpiece thing. He said that Taichi would get fat if he keeps it up."  
  
Mimi blinked. "They sure whisper to each other an awful lot." She whispered to Sora.  
  
//[Sora] And so do you.  
  
Thirty minutes later...  
  
"So, I dumped him." Koushiro finished casually, finding thrill by improvising his lies then making others believe him.  
  
//[Yamato] That idiot.  
  
//[Takeru] That idiot.  
  
//[Ken] That idiot.  
  
//[Taichi] That...idiot.  
  
"Oh my." Sora covered her mouth. "I can't believe you did that, the poor guy."  
  
Mimi scoffed. "What are you talking about? He was cheating on Kou-chan!"  
  
//Idiotically cunning.  
  
"So, how about you, Tai-chan?" Sora moved on. "Something interesting to talk about?"  
  
"Ugh. Tai-chan." Taichi wrinkled his brows. "Call me Taichi."  
  
//[Yamato] That idiot!  
  
//[Takeru] That idiot!  
  
//[Ken] That idiot!  
  
//[Koushiro] That...  
  
"But Taichi is a guy's name..." Sora stared at Taichi.  
  
Red shirt.  
  
Blue jeans.  
  
"Hehe, you're such a tomboy."  
  
//[Koushiro] Holy shit, that's genius.  
  
//[Takeru] I wish I thought that up.  
  
//[Yamato] I can't copy him now, he'll mock me, at least, and it's hard that the girls will buy it, with how I'm like now...  
  
//[Ken] Not only did he avoid all name mistakes that he might possibly make due to unfamiliarity, but he also doesn't have to act girly, with just that one excuse!  
  
"I'll call you Taichi-chan, then." Sora happily said.  
  
"Ugh."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"I have to go to work now." Hikari declared as she left, just as the group exited the restaurant. "Bye, everyone.  
  
"I have something to do as well." Miyako ran up to Hikari, then slowed down as she caught up.  
  
"Let's go shopping!" Mimi shook Sora's shoulders.  
  
"Alright, alright." Sora nodded. "Sorry, why don't you go back to the house first? Maybe you would want to explore around? I'm sorry for leaving you here."  
  
"The house?" Yamato asked. "That's what you call it?"  
  
"Pretty much."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Well, that was fun." Takeru stretched as he entered the room.  
  
And tripped.  
  
"Okay. I'm never going inside a room first again." Takeru moaned, his face flat against the ground.  
  
"What's this?" Yamato picked up the small, but heavy box, which, apparently, wasn't there before.  
  
"Open it." Taichi reached a hand towards the box, but Yamato pulled the box away.  
  
Carefully, Yamato pulled along the rim of the glued flaps of the box, then sneaked his hand further inside to fully disconnect the flaps.  
  
"Wow." Koushiro looked inside the box, and reached his hand inside, only to pull out a platinum coloured cell phone.  
  
"These cell phones are the newest model from Sony, they can be used normally. We modified them, though. How you use it, I'll come by and teach you another day. You can try fiddling with it if you want to learn how to use the extra functions beforehand, the modification is bug-free, and it won't break if you run it over with a tank, so have fun. Makimura Kei." Yamato recited the sheet stapled to the inside of the flaps.  
  
"Cell phones?" Taichi grabbed the box and ran.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Tomorrow's opening ceremonies are at 9:00a.m." Koushiro announced. "Try not to be late, there are two rooms, which will be divided to Takeru and Ken, and Taichi, Yamato, and me. Argue for top bunk if you wish, just keep the voice level inside your room. Set your alarm clocks, try to wake up on your own, since if your roommate gets up, they should be noisy enough to wake you up as well, if you don't get up, we won't wake you up in time for the ceremony. From what I heard, the auditorium will be reached when you follow the large row of Sakura trees on your left, which means you're heading north."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
April 5, 2002 (8:45 a.m.)  
  
Koushiro stared in horror as he looked at the alarm clock.  
  
"Oi! Late, late, late, late!" He screamed to himself as he brushed his teeth while putting on his skirt, which was giving him hell.  
  
Practically sprinting, he ran out of the house, slamming its door on the way, then running his way downstairs to the field.  
  
Stare.  
  
Dot eyes.  
  
//Okay, maybe it wasn't such a good idea to not get a compass, because the Sakura trees being the same everywhere doesn't help.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
8:58 a.m.  
  
"Oh...god...!" Koushiro coughed as he arrived into the auditorium, then practically leaning on Yamato.  
  
"So much for the big speech."  
  
"Shh, the ceremony is starting." Ken placed an index finger in front of his lips.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Tuduku.  
  
Next episode:  
  
Taichi: Next time on Boku/Ata, I get through my first day of school. Ugh, the teachers are bitches! Total bitches, I tell you! But that's okay, I'm starting to adjust even on my first day. The most rewarding thing on a school day has to be when you go home, in which case, they call them 'house', ah....? What's that thing?! What's that doing here?  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Oi. That took quite long, didn't it? At least for me to write up. It wasn't very funny. But I think it had some funny bits, ...right? Anyway, remember to review! Review! Review!  
  
-Lumi 


	10. Episode 2: Our Location

Boku-tachi/Atashi-tachi  
  
Hello again! First things first:  
  
New reviewers: I'm not allowed for a name (somewhat a name), Kara Kasai, Dria, and Crazi.  
  
Also, Boku/Ata has passed 100 reviews. Thank you, guys. ^^  
  
Special thanks to TheAngelOfLove, my first and one hundredth reviewer!  
  
School has been quite tiring for me lately, I'll still try to keep up with the weekly releases, but please don't blame me if I missed a week? Okay? Pleaaase?  
  
Extra note: The school schedule will be the same as my school's schedule system, for the purpose of my comfort in writing about it without errors. It's basically a Day 1/Day 2 system, where you have certain courses on Day 1, and certain ones in Day 2. Day 1 and Day 2 alternate daily.  
  
Disclaimer: Digimon belongs to Toei.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Episode 2: Our Location  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
April 5, 2002 (8:58 a.m.)  
  
"Shh, the ceremony is starting." Ken placed an index finger in front of his lips.  
  
Koushiro quickly cut off any other words he was about to say, and even attempted to lengthen each breath he took in order to make less noise, like a scolded child. Likewise, all clamour, excited chattering, as well as complaints were suppressed by two consecutive tapping sounds, coming from the speakers, obviously originating from the microphone on the stage.  
  
"Ahem." A reasonably young woman voiced into her microphone again. "Please welcome our principal, Sakura Ayako-sama."  
  
"Sakura Ayako-sama?" Koushiro asked Ken in disbelief. "Someone has Sakura for last name, and have people call them '-sama'?"  
  
"According to Kei, it's Sa Kura. That was kind of obvious, though, as long as you didn't keep in mind the name of this school." Ken whispered back to Koushiro without redirecting his eyes. "I heard this principal is kind of weird, though."  
  
(Note: Sakura is a last name, but it's made into kanji differently than 'cherry blossom'. It's not an uncommon last name, but it isn't as pretty as cherry blossom either.)  
  
A slightly older woman, wearing fairly formal business-like clothing, walked up to the vacant area before the microphone, then adjusted it to her height.  
  
"Hello, fellow students, I'd like to start off with..."  
  
Silence.  
  
Tap. Tap. Tap.  
  
The principal suddenly lowered her head to face directly the ground, almost painfully, then moved her head back, stretching her neck.  
  
"Ahh! I can't stand this!" She shouted as she swiftly pulled the first button off her blouse.  
  
BGM: Cart before the Horse - Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou  
  
"I'll skip the crap." She slammed her hands down, but nearly fell over due to a lack of something to slam her hands on, at which then she quickly grabbed the microphone stand to hold her balance, and as well, fall with her down the stage.  
  
"Anyway..." The principal mumbled as she stood up, still holding the microphone. "Those that were not here last year would know that I'm new, those that stalk me would know that I'm the granddaughter of the previous principal. I hate formalities, call me Ayako-sama, call me Sakura and die, don't call me with -sama and get expelled."  
  
Mumbles.  
  
//[Koushiro] She's a real impresser.  
  
And Koushiro watched as few of the more elderly teachers smack their heads into their hands, or their hands into their heads, or their heads into the wall.  
  
Ayako jumps, and manages to land on the stage perfectly, with the microphone stand in her right hand.  
  
"With me here, most rules will be different." Ayako announced. Somewhat proudly, except not.  
  
//I wonder if she knows that 'we' are here. Kei said that he did have to run it by some high officials in the school, after all.  
  
"I'd like to, firstly, encourage everyone to join clubs, participate in activities, and most importantly, get boyfriends."  
  
Sweatdrops.  
  
She used her fingers to rub her nose. "If you have a boyfriend, and if you register, we'll confirm it, if it's true, you'll have an extra 10% to every course of yours."  
  
//Then again, she's an idiot. Kei probably ran it by some other vice principal or something.  
  
"Also, fooling around with your boyfriend in your living quarters is strictly prohibited..."  
  
//Well, duh.  
  
"...Without recording what you did. If you did fool around, you have to send your tape to the office."  
  
//Oh gods. If she does know, that witch will so screw us over.  
  
"And of course, if you are a boy, dressing up as a girl, in order to win some television contest, that's not allowed as well."  
  
//Oh, she knows. She knows alright.  
  
Koushiro stared attentively at the stage, but never really listened, his focus fazed out, pondering, pondering, continuously pondering about nothing. Words boomed from the speakers; they reached Koushiro's ears, but not past that.  
  
"Oi." Taichi tapped Koushiro's shoulder.  
  
"What?" Koushiro flinched slightly.  
  
"The opening ceremonies are over, let's go." Yamato said, standing beside Taichi.  
  
Koushiro laughed sheepishly. "Right. Back...home, whatever you call it?"  
  
"I suppose." Ken replied as he joined the short conversation.  
  
[Actually, I'd prefer it if you went over to the counsellors first to fix up your nonexistent course schedule.]  
  
"I almost regret forgetting about your existence sometimes, Kei." Koushiro remarked, slightly annoyed.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"She will see you in a minute." The secretary nodded.  
  
Taichi, likewise, nodded, turned around, and plopped, sat down on the big sofa like chair.  
  
Takeru, beside him, moved his head close to Taichi. "What did she say?"  
  
"She'll see us in a minute, she says." Taichi repeated.  
  
"Oh."  
  
Tick. Tock.  
  
Ring.  
  
The secretary picked up the phone, held it to her ear, and nodded dully.  
  
"She'll see you now." She looked down and crossed things off on a piece of paper.  
  
"Who?" Ken hesitantly asked.  
  
"All of you."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Yes, what is it?" An elderly woman spun on her chair to face the boys.  
  
Yamato removed his hands from his pocket. "We were told to come see you for our course schedule."  
  
"Oh. Courses." The woman said indifferently. "You must be new here, no wonder that you don't have a course plan."  
  
"Firstly. Your...names."  
  
"Dashii Yamako."  
  
"Migaya Taiko."  
  
"Shiikata Takeko."  
  
"Jiujochii Kenko."  
  
"Mizui Koushiko."  
  
The counsellor quickly wrote on her notepad. "Weird names." She noted.  
  
The boys looked at each other.  
  
"Anyway, here's a quick overview." The counsellor dropped her pen. "There are a few courses that are just set there for you, Japanese, math, socials, and physical education. The two options you have is to pick one science out of three, chemistry, physics, or biology, and one elective...out of hell knows how many we have."  
  
Takeru jumped slightly, hearing swear words.  
  
Spinning on her chair again, now facing the computer.  
  
"Yamako...what science will you pick?" The counsellor mumbled, almost so softly that it seemed that she was talking to herself.  
  
"Chemistry."  
  
Tap tap. Click click click.  
  
"Taiko."  
  
"Umm..." Taichi's eyes focused on the other boys, seemingly to ask them what to pick. And each of them seemed to answer with glances that say "Shut up and pick it yourself, you idiot.".  
  
"Biology!" Taichi screamed.  
  
"It's okay. I don't have a hearing deficiency." The counsellor seriously said as she typed the information into the computer.  
  
"Takeko."  
  
"Er...chemistry."  
  
"And Kenko?"  
  
"Physics."  
  
"Finally...Koushiko."  
  
"Physics, as well."  
  
Koushiro and Ken grinned to each other, knowing inwardly that they already started forming a clan, group of sorts, that discriminated stupid people.  
  
Beep.  
  
Durrr.  
  
The counsellor blinked as she grabbed the piece of fax paper and ripped it off the fax machine near the computer.  
  
Blink. Blink.  
  
Spin.  
  
Stare.  
  
Blink.  
  
The counsellor covered her mouth, as if preventing laughter, or shock, whichever comes first, as she exchanged glances between the piece of paper and the group of boys.  
  
Koushiro bit his lower lip.  
  
//[Koushiro] Oh, she knows too.  
  
"Let's go on to electives." The counsellor spun back, biting her lips, desperately trying not to laugh.  
  
"Yama...ko." The counsellor called out. Before instantaneously falling to the ground, and cracking up.  
  
Five minutes later...  
  
"Yama...ko."  
  
Ten minutes later...  
  
"Right, I'm really okay now." The counsellor assured as she took deep breaths.  
  
"Yama...ko."  
  
Five minutes later...  
  
"I'm sorry. I won't laugh anymore." The counsellor nodded. "Yamako."  
  
Having read the electives list for around fifty times during the last twenty minutes the counsellor rolled up on the ground and practically laughed so loud that the neighbouring buildings could've heard her, he quickly responded. "Guitar."  
  
"Guitar..."  
  
Tap tap tap.  
  
"Taiko."  
  
Snatching the list from Yamato, Taichi quickly looked at the list, his fingers directing his eyes.  
  
Taichi scratched his head in this horrible dilemma of what to possibly pick. "Umm...could you eat the food you make in cooking?"  
  
"I take it that you will take cooking if I say yes." The counsellor answered as she pointed her mouse and double clicked.  
  
"Takeko."  
  
"Guitar."  
  
Stares.  
  
"What? What?" Takeru asked frantically, his eyes starting to glint due to a collection of water inside. "Can't I idolize nee-san without people like you staring at me?"  
  
Ken patted Takeru's back.  
  
"Koushiko."  
  
"I'll be taking...information technology." Koushiro stated. "That's computer science."  
  
The counsellor answered by continuing to type into her computer.  
  
"Alright. That's all, I take it."  
  
"Umm..." Ken moved a little outwards from his seat to be noticed. "You haven't asked me yet."  
  
"Kenko? You're taking sewing."  
  
Ken blinked. "No, I'm not."  
  
"Yes you are, you're taking sewing." The counsellor laughed as if Ken was making a joke.  
  
"Jackass." Ken mumbled under his breath.  
  
[Hey, it wasn't my decision. It's the other manager that made this decision.]  
  
"Jackass." Ken repeated.  
  
Drr. Drr.  
  
The counsellor took the pieces of paper from the printer, and handed one accordingly to each of the boys.  
  
Each of them looked at the paper, mesmerized by it.  
  
Ken looked over Koushiro's shoulders, then over Takeru's.  
  
"How come all our courses are at the same time, aside that we have different electives and sciences, but they are also in the same time period?" Ken observed.  
  
"Oh. All of you will be in the same class." The counsellor said calmly. "Aside from when you're taking different classes."  
  
"What?!"  
  
"Yeah. I'd have to admit, the system is a bit screwed. You learn what you did last year, and there are varying ranges of ages in a class." The counsellor sighed. "The only thing that puts people in different classes are the room number ranges. That makes classes really easy for seniors, and hard for juniors."  
  
//[Taichi] Yes!  
  
"Of course, assuming that the senior is smarter than the junior."  
  
//[Taichi] Noooo!  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Opening the door, they were met with the bunch of girls.  
  
"Oh, hi, we're just going shopping now, in case you were wondering." Mimi, bearing wavy pink hair with stars stuck on them, as well as wearing a long sleeved cotton shirt, with a short skirt that seemed to fit her comfortably, said as she slipped into her high heels.  
  
"Do you want to come with us?" Sora, having shoulder length hair, which, unlike Mimi, is asymmetrically styled, wearing a red tee-shirt and white skirt, asked.  
  
Takeru opened his mouth.  
  
Yamato wrestled him down.  
  
"It's okay." Ken stepped up and politely refused.  
  
"In that case, we should go, Miyako-chan is waiting for us at the mall." Hikari adjusted the hair clip clipping her light brown hair.  
  
Slam.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
April 6, 2002 (8:35 a.m.)  
  
Taichi woke up from sleeping the sixth time. He was already sleepy, but the P.E. teacher's lecture on how participation is a large portion of the term mark was surely a great assistance.  
  
"Anyway, I want you girls to go out and run two laps around the oval track." The fairly muscular woman, Ms. Touda (Ms. for muscular she, Taichi reasoned, which is why she is still a Ms.) instructed. "I'll follow a bit afterwards."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Oh god, running in the morning. That woman is perverse." Taichi complained to Koushiro as he ran.  
  
Yamato looked back behind his shoulders to find Koushiro and Taichi about three metres behind. "Stop bitching, Taichi."  
  
"Up yours, Yama-chan."  
  
Taichi continued running, which didn't please him, since his eyes were mostly closed, which made him hit various obstacles (a.k.a. trees, walls, big slow bitches). Taichi stopped, panting desperately for air. Yamato was half a lap ahead of Taichi, and Taichi just finished one lap. Normally, Taichi would rip his lungs out to compete with Yamato, but it was morning, and every part of his body should be asleep. Even Koushiro was ahead of him, as well as Takeru and Ken, and also Sora, Mimi, Hikari, and Miyako, who he didn't pay so much attentiont to, but he didn't mind all that much now, since he practically quit running.  
  
"You're done already?" Ms. Touda said as she stepped down from the stairs of the bleachers, impressed.  
  
Taichi blinked.  
  
Tick tock. Tick tock. Tick tock.  
  
"Oh,...um, yeah!" Taichi vigorously nodded.  
  
"Migaya Taiko, aren't you? I'll be paying lots more attention to you from now on." Ms. Touda winked in approval.  
  
Taichi laughed. His fist clenched tightly behind him.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Taichi ran towards the ball. Soccer is generally categorized into two categories, professional and not professional. In professional soccer, team members stayed at their own area of management, and only ran out if situations were desperate. In not professional soccer, people run at the ball like fangirls running at a young pretty star, hoping to harass. This is not professional soccer.  
  
"Ahhhhh!" Taichi screamed as he slid down intentionally, one leg stretched out towards the ball, knocking down whoever that was in between him and the ball. Standing up, he gained control of the ball under his feet, and expertly moved it out of the way from attacking opponents. Which came by the dozen. Taichi's eyes spun.  
  
//God dammit, they just keep coming and coming like some crappy soldier in a RPG! I'll have to kick the ball out.  
  
Raising his legs far behind him, Taichi kicked the ball with great velocity, which flew past the opposing team that was grouped there, and further past the midcourt. Past that. Past the penalty zone. Past the goal. Past the track. Past the fence.  
  
Screeeeeeeeeech.  
  
Crash.  
  
Screams of people.  
  
Sirens of ambulance.  
  
Takeru watched as Taichi desperately ran up the bleachers.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Taichi lowered his head onto the desk and closed his eyes. Sleeping in P.E. was difficult, and sleeping in socials was definitely easier, so he did. It was reasonably successful, without notice, he had slept already an hour away. The class was discussing issues about the society, he noted as he semi-woke.  
  
"So...umm." The socials teacher, Mrs. Damire looked down at her seating plan. "What do you think about sexist discrimination in modern society? Migaya Taiko."  
  
Taichi lifted his head and blinked.  
  
Koushiro stared in horror. It was Taichi. Being asked a question upon sexism. Koushiro would be somewhat thankful if Taichi had answered 'It sucks', but it seems that Taichi wouldn't.  
  
Taichi opened his mouth.  
  
"I..."  
  
Koushiro shut his eyes, awaiting for stupid words to come out.  
  
"I think that it has decreased significantly from the earlier times in history, since time allowed women to prove their value, and to decrease the effects of tradition. Surely, it still exists in this society right now, but improvements are still being made, and..."  
  
Koushiro opened his eyes.  
  
Blink.  
  
It was indeed Taichi. Saying those words.  
  
[And over time, with current rates, the inequality wouldn't exist.]  
  
"...Over time, with current rates, the inequality wouldn't exist." Taichi repeated.  
  
"Mmm. Very good." Mrs. Damire complimented. "What do you think would help decrease the sexism against women...Mizui Koushiko."  
  
Koushiro smirked.  
  
"There is still a very large difference of the men and women's status in the society, more direct approaches should be taken. I recommend first having all women join in a communist community for support of each other, at which we send out prostitutes with STDs to sleep with every man on the earth, making them die, eventually, then we would be able to remove discrimination against women."  
  
Silence.  
  
//[Koushiro] That should shut her up for two weeks or so.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"So, what is 9 choose 6...Migaya Taiko?" The math teacher, an middle aged man, Mr. Yamada asked.  
  
//[Taichi] What the fuck is wrong with everyone today, picking on me?!  
  
Taichi searched the calculator buttons nervously. He had heard that in class that it was SOMEWHERE on the calculator. Not that he'd ever pay attention anyway.  
  
Ten minutes later...  
  
"Are you still trying for the solution, Migaya?" The math teacher demanded impatiently.  
  
"Um...I forgot where the button is."  
  
Mr. Yamada walked towards Taichi, and pointed at a calculator button.  
  
"That one." He pointed at another button. "That button is called '2', do you know how to use that button?"  
  
The class laughed.  
  
Taichi was pissed off. Very pissed off. The series of events today just made him more pissed off. If the pissed off meter ranged from 1 to 10, Taichi would shove the meter up Mr. Yamada's ass.  
  
Taichi swung out his fist, which incidentally/accidentally his Mr. Yamada in the groin.  
  
"Oops. Sorry."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"You don't seem to get along well with most teachers." Sora observed.  
  
"They piss me off." Taichi grumbled.  
  
"Maybe you'll find better teachers on Day 2."  
  
"Hopefully." Taichi muttered as he walked.  
  
Koushiro ran up and patted Taichi's shoulders. "Hey!"  
  
"Oh, hey." Taichi dully returned.  
  
"We're going to sign up for clubs, you go home first." Yamato said, walking past Taichi.  
  
"Clubs..." Taichi repeated as he watched the four boys semi-ran down the hall.  
  
"Is there a soccer team?" Taichi asked Sora, still facing down the hall.  
  
"Mmm, yeah. But they don't start this early, about a couple weeks after the first day of school or so." Sora explained, looking upwards, rethinking if her information is right.  
  
"Let's go home then." Taichi sighed happily, and positioned his hands so that they were behind him, but his elbows were point up.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"No kidding!" Taichi exclaimed. "You used to play soccer too?"  
  
Sora giggled slightly. "Yeah, used to. I've now taken up playing tennis, though."  
  
"Oh, tennis. Too bad, It would've been nice to play soccer with you."  
  
"I'm glad." Sora turned to Taichi, then gently smiled.  
  
"You're glad?" Taichi repeated, quite confused.  
  
"I thought that the new roommates would've been unpleasant, but it turns out that you're all very nice."  
  
Blush.  
  
"Although you're not too girly, Taichi-chan."  
  
Taichi took both statements as compliments.  
  
"Ah, well." Taichi continued on walking, swinging his arms further than he used to, unable to find his natural actions.  
  
Sora sped up, taking quick steps up beside Taichi.  
  
"I wonder if he got back yet..."  
  
"He?" Taichi wrinkled his eyebrows. He distinctly recalled that there were to be no 'he's in the lower living area of the school, Aside from themselves, but no one is supposed to know that anyway.  
  
Stomp.  
  
Stomp stomp stomp stomp stomp.  
  
Tackle.  
  
Taichi felt like he was run over by a truck. A Land-Rover. Or at least those damn big American Lincoln cars, those are big too. Taichi opened his eyes.  
  
Something, something, Taichi couldn't tell, with very light blue fur covering its top portion, its back, and on that fur, there were strange looking navy stripes. The front of its body was yellow, and its abnormal looking tail as well. A horn, Taichi thought someone impaled that thing with a piece of sharp looking cheese, jutted out from its head. Big eyes glared, and a nose with mouth beneath were slightly in front. Taichi reasoned that it was a dog. Although, the last time he saw a dog, it didn't have a horn. Dogs must have evolved, Taichi comforted himself.  
  
"Gabu-chan!" Sora quickly ran up and hugged the thing sitting on Taichi's stomach tightly. It, whatever it was, seemed to suffocate.  
  
"Gabu-chan?" Taichi asked, remaining lying on the ground.  
  
"Yep, Gabu-chan. Its full name is Gabumon, but I thought that sounded kind of weird." Sora nodded. "I must have forgotten to tell you. We have a dog, and we just sent it off to the vet a few days ago. It usually comes back on its own. We found it in the streets, we felt so sorry for it that we took it in."  
  
Gabu snarled.  
  
Sora blinked continuously. "But it usually takes strangers quite well. The only thing it usually dislikes is a guy."  
  
Taichi gulped.  
  
With tremendous effort, Sora lifted up Gabu and walked up the stairs.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"So we have to live with this thing as well?" Yamato pointed, disgustingly at Gabu.  
  
"Shh." Taichi shushed. "The girls are in the kitchen, don't be so loud."  
  
"And this thing hates guys." Takeru noted. "It's not like we like it as well."  
  
Gabu growled.  
  
"That'll make our job a whole lot easier." Ken remarked sarcastically. "We only need to avoid it mowing us down every twenty four hours."  
  
"We're going out to buy some food, take care of Gabu until we come back!"  
  
Slam.  
  
Silence.  
  
"Well, at least now we can talk more freely." Yamato sighed.  
  
"About me?" Gabu asked.  
  
"Yeah." Yamato grabbed a batch of hair from his shoulders and threw it back. Long hair has started to annoy him.  
  
"It's not nice to talk bad about people, especially when they're here, you know."  
  
"So?"  
  
Blink.  
  
Yamato blinked again. And again.  
  
Yamato pointed his finger accusingly at Gabu. "Were you talking?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
Releasing his breath, Yamato walked a few steps over, then fainted on top of the other, already fainted, guys.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Yo, wake up." Gabu slapped Ken. Over and over again.  
  
"I'm up!" Ken screamed, his eyes opening like a camera shutter.  
  
"So, what ARE you?" Koushiro gently questioned, so that it doesn't offend Gabu, but putting an emphasis on 'are' doesn't help.  
  
"I'm a dog." Gabu scratched its ears. "They don't know that I talk, though, don't tell the girls."  
  
"Oh." Koushiro nodded. Deciding not to question any further until proper acknowledgement has passed him.  
  
"We need to have an agreement." Gabu hopped up to a chair and sat down.  
  
"I'm sorry, we usually don't have agreements with talking horned dogs." Yamato retorted.  
  
Gabu ignored that remark. "The girls, oh god, they are nice and all." Gabu the proceeded to cover his face with both his paws. "But...you don't know how much of a vegetarian they can be! Even at sometimes when they eat meat, they make me eat vegetables, claiming that I'll get fat if I eat meat and all that! And when they're bored, they dress me up, with the ribbons, and, and the make up, and the weird accessories!"  
  
Then, Gabu broke down crying.  
  
Taichi put a hand on Gabu's shoulders, patting. "Don't worry, we know how you feel."  
  
Quickly, Gabu stopped crying. "So, I'm asking you to discourage them to dress me up, and sneak me meat. Among other things that I want, and I won't make your identity be revealed."  
  
Ken scoffed. "If you tell them, then they'll know that you talk!"  
  
"OR, I can rip your skirt off."  
  
"Or that." Ken inched away.  
  
"If you don't want your life to be more frantic than it is, I don't think you have a choice." Gabu smirked confidently. Koushiro inwardly growled. He hated people that outsmarted him. Not only people, but it's a dog with a horn that outsmarted him, which makes it worse.  
  
"Deal." Yamato agreed, and shook hands/paws with Gabu.  
  
"So, from now on-"  
  
Slam.  
  
"Sorry, I forgot the shopping list." Hikari laughed, embarrassed, as she ran to the kitchen.  
  
"Was that Gabu talking that I heard?"  
  
"Meow, meow meow."  
  
"Probably not, then. Gabu always likes to make sounds sometimes." Hikari recalled, as she grabbed the list and ran back out the door.  
  
Slam.  
  
"Meow?" Takeru raised one eyebrow.  
  
"I wasn't thinking."  
  
"You better hope that she doesn't, either."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Tuduku.  
  
BGM: Aban 02: Digimon 02  
  
Next Episode:  
  
Takeru: My second day of school. This is so boring. But! I finally get to go shopping with some of the girls. I'm so happy! *sigh* I get to be with a girl, even if it is shopping-. Eh?! Da...Daisuke?!  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Sorry for the late release!  
  
I chose to use Gabumon because he was compatible plotwise more than any other Digimon I could find.  
  
Anyway, review lots!  
  
-Lumi 


	11. Episode 3: Split

Boku-tachi/Atashi-tachi  
  
Hello everyone! Here's another installment of Boku/Ata.  
  
First things first...  
  
My new reviewers are: sweetkaiser, SilverStar, Melinda, Kaizer K-chan, Jay Man, Completely Unaware, takeru takaishi, and TT examiner  
  
To answer the question from TT examiner, the definition of the title is given below the title in the first episode (or ninth chapter).  
  
I'm sorry for missing a post last week, school has been getting quite frantic lately, and sometimes I'm not in the mood. Plus, there was a socials project, so if you want to bitch at anyone, bitch at my socials teacher. Yes. Do it. Hopefully, I won't miss any more weekly releases, but I can't give any promises.  
  
Less chatter now, enjoy.  
  
I've also decided that not all thoughts will be denoted with //, but sometimes, rather, with a standard story telling format. I'm being inconsistent again, but I thought that it would be more effective in some situations.  
  
Keep in mind that I'm not in a very funny mood, so this chapter might be a bit...different.  
  
(Added after initial post (in response to 'reader's review (Thank you for your input)): Anything marked with * may be new to some readers, since it's not commonly used anywhere, and will be explained at the bottom of the fic.)  
  
Disclaimer: As always, Digimon belongs to Toei.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Episode 3: Split  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
April 7, 2002 (7:30 a.m.)  
  
"You're up early."  
  
"So are you."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"And so, significant figures can be determined by following rules..."  
  
Takeru held his head up with his hand. Certainly, he was listening attentively. But he was bored nonetheless. Between this and simply sitting in a chair, he would be placed in a dilemma. It seems that listening attentively doesn't really make anything interesting.  
  
He looked around.  
  
Everyone was no different.  
  
Takeru raised his hand. "Chidoki-sensei?"  
  
"Yes..." The meek female teacher looked onto the sheet on her table. "Shiikata Takeko?"  
  
"Can I go to the bathroom?"  
  
Mrs. Chidoki sighed. "Go ahead."  
  
Takeru quickly rushed out of the classroom, ignoring stares.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
//Although this life has only begun to start,  
  
Takeru stared blankly out the series of windows on one side of the hallway, connected by thin cement frames.  
  
//It's starting to become quite tiring. Maybe even boring, but that's just school doing its part.  
  
Each step Takeru took modified the view he was given, slowly allowing him to see all sides of the small cement plateau outside, and the always existent, occasional Sakura trees planted at choice places. Despite how pleasant it is, it didn't have Takeru jumping for joy.  
  
//It's only the second day. Or was it third? It doesn't matter. Nothing seems to be as I expected. Everyday it's just like every other day, except I'd have to be careful that I'm not revealed. Doing anything has its own inhibitions on me.  
  
Takeru's eyes lightly passed the symbol of female on the door, and stopped.  
  
//Everything has turned into some sort of obligation. Living is suddenly an obligation. Not something on the 'to do' list, but rather, 'have to fucking do' list.  
  
Takeru gently touched the door and pushed it, but halted when he felt unusual pressure around his chest area.  
  
"Give me your bra. Or I'll pump graphite into your neck."  
  
"Stop joking around."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"So was physics too boring for you?" Takeru asked casually as he washed his hands, feeling a necessity to at least do something since he requested to go to the bathroom.  
  
"I take it chemistry for you wasn't all that great either." Ken brushed his hair around with his hand in front of the mirror.  
  
Takeru nodded.  
  
"What's with the goth eye shadow?" Ken asked, laughing.  
  
Takeru blinked, and moved himself in front of the mirror.  
  
"I just didn't get enough sleep last night, that's all." Takeru said, rubbing his eyes, trying to get rid of the black colour away from this skin.  
  
"Funny, Koushiro said the same thing."  
  
"Let's get back to class before the teachers start to get suspicious."  
  
Takeru exited the bathroom, dragging his feet.  
  
Ken frowned as he followed.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
The class laughed.  
  
Takeru simply slumped his head down. Japanese class, he thought, seemed to be different from before. It had somehow turned into a philosophy class, not that he minded.  
  
The teacher, Ms. Kamiya, was very kind. Takeru knew, she had occasional glances at him, but just ignored the fact that he wasn't paying attention. But aside from that, she was always smiling and was kind in general when she spoke to students.  
  
Everyone seemed to be very happy.  
  
His eyes wandered.  
  
Hikari laughed.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"You seem to like that class a lot." Takeru remarked as he walked towards his next class.  
  
"Yeah, that's probably my favourite class." Hikari answered, smiling. "Photography comes close, but..."  
  
Takeru nodded as he made a left turn, heading down the stairs.  
  
"You're going down too?" Takeru asked, a bit surprised.  
  
Hikari nodded happily. "Yep. The photo lab is downstairs too. Where are you headed to?"  
  
"Guitar class." Takeru scratched his head sheepishly.  
  
"Guitar, your onee-san plays guitar, doesn't she?"  
  
Takeru held himself back before he went ahead with 'Onee-san? What onee- san?".  
  
"Umm. Yeah. ...She's had lots of experience." Takeru carefully worded. "I've always wanted to play like...her."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"And we'll start the introduction for the beginners afterwards. So, if you don't already have one, go to the guitar closet to get one."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Ne, nee-san." Takeru poked Yamato carefully, almost like if Yamato was dangerous.  
  
"What is it?" Yamato turned around, slightly annoyed from having to adjust to being called 'nee-san'.  
  
"How do you pick a guitar?"  
  
"Just strum it one and see if sounds good enough." Yamato simply said as he took a quick glance, and grabbed a fine wooden guitar off of the space it was put in.  
  
"And guitars are usually good when they look good."  
  
"Ah." Takeru nodded. "Look for pretty guitars."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Who here has learned guitar before?" Mr. Norima asked, tapping a pen against his chin. "This is an advanced and beginner mixed class, so there has to be some here."  
  
A few people, around half-dozen, stood up. Most of them proudly.  
  
"Since I'll be teaching the advanced different things, I just don't want to accidentally teach beginner items to an advanced student." Norima explained, looking over all the students in the room.  
  
Yamato reluctantly stood up.  
  
"Okay." Mr. Norima clapped his hands together excitedly. "I want those standing up to perform something for us, just to know your abilities."  
  
Takeru sighed. Somehow, he felt left out. Normally, he was a B student, sometimes A. But now he felt too C+ for words.  
  
The few standing students each played something, each varying from chords to finger picking. Some sang while they played chords, but it was either that the chords weren't played well, or they didn't sang well, either way, un-pleasantry occurred.  
  
"Dashii Yamako." Mr. Norima squinted at the photo on the list. It seemed like the hair was pasted on by computer graphics, but he wasn't about to argue with the photograph. "Right?" He looked up at Yamato.  
  
Yamato picked up his nylon guitar -although he would prefer steel, but that's not available at school, despite the generous funding available to it- and held it normally, except he looked very uncomfortable, having all the weight of the guitar on his left hand since there is no strap.  
  
Yamato took a deep breath.  
  
Vocal: Negai Kanaeru Kagi- Digimon 02  
  
Takeru blinked. He had seen a few of Yamato's performances, mostly concerts on video (a few of which he found to his liking, ones that included events such as beating this ugly fan of his that tried to kiss him on stage with his electric guitar). But he never saw him live. Yamato's concerts were not a rarity, hell, Yamato would have it whenever he wants (when he did concerts within single day notices, and only a few of his fans came due to most of them not even knowing about it, he would express his frustration on Hajime about the lack of audience if no ugly fan that wanted to kiss him was immediately available), but it was strange to go to a concert of someone you know closely. Seeing siblings perform was awkward.  
  
Yamato was incredible. His hand traveled up and down the guitar neck while his fingers changed positions to grab chords instantaneously. After having to actually hold a guitar, Takeru found how difficult it was, actually, to play that, and held onto his newfound awe for Yamato. Certainly, it sounded less impressive on a wooden guitar, but it was still very nice. His voice, though, was still great, but very strange compared to what Takeru heard before. "Sekai wo hiraku no sa!" Yamato sang at the top of his lungs. Taking deep breaths, Yamato realized that he had unconsciously fell into 'concert mode' again.  
  
Claps.  
  
One particular girl at the back made a face and leered. "Show off."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"But the guitar was school property!" Norima reasoned, trying to be as calm as possible.  
  
"I'll replace the low E-string already." Yamato shook his head casually. "It's not like anyone uses that string anyway." He silently muttered.  
  
Norima slammed the table with his hands. Peacefully.  
  
"That's not the point!"  
  
"What is, then?"  
  
"You're not supposed to strangle people, much less with a guitar string!"  
  
"Oh."  
  
Ring.  
  
"That's that." Yamato stood up quickly, turning to face the door. "I'll try not to do it next time."  
  
Norima raised his eyebrows as Yamato coolly walked out, his tied long hair involuntarily swinging like a pendulum with magnets on either side, displaying unusual velocity as the hair swings past his behind.  
  
"Hmm. That song...I heard that song somewhere. Maybe it was from television. I should check it out sometime."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"What?" Yamato asked irritably, because, Takeru, is staring irritatingly.  
  
"You know, you're a girl now." Takeru said, bordering on whispering.  
  
"What?"  
  
Takeru pressed his lips together. "You shouldn't be so violent and so obvious, you know. Who knows who might be watching us, or notice, and-"  
  
Yamato simply rubbed the top of Takeru's head in large motions then accelerated past.  
  
"You didn't have to ruin my hair." Takeru pouted.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"And it's just so frustrating!" Takeru near screamed, but reverted to his normal volume level. "Everything is just...wrong, almost. And nothing good ever happens. Sometimes life just seems to pointless like this, you know what I mean?"  
  
Gabu blinked.  
  
"No use talking to you." Takeru grumbled and exited Gabu's room, a fairly small closet like -a large closet, but a small room- space with a small blanket formed bed, water and food dish, and a few rubber toys for the occasional chewing. And some magazines, oddly.  
  
Takeru walked from one side of the hall to the other. Then back. Then again, always slowing down at the T shaped intersection, looking at the entrance, the door, hoping that something interesting will come by and anti- depress him, anything, mad clown parking a plane outside and threatening to take hostages, some punk walking around with an afro, some mad scientist coming through the door and blasting whatever he sees with a positron laser, whatever it was that was going to come through that door, he wanted to be there when it does.  
  
Tap tap tap tap.  
  
Stomp stomp stomp.  
  
Creak.  
  
"Oh, Take-chan." Hikari cheerfully exclaimed as she entered. "How come you're home so much earlier than I am?"  
  
"Hikari-chan!" Certainly, Hikari was not absolutely the most interesting thing that could happen, but fairly interesting. At least more than blinking talking dogs and sadistic guitarists, he thought. "My last class is just a whole lot closer to the exit." So interesting that it seemed like they met for half a year rather than a few days.  
  
"Oh, so that's it." Hikari nodded as she lifted her legs behind her to take off her shoes.  
  
Blink.  
  
Stare.  
  
"So...you...?" Hikari unintentionally pointed. Takeru stood and stared back. It seemed there was no apparent reason he was there aside from walking past, however, it also seemed that there was no reason to dismiss that he was simply waiting for her to come back, seeing as he's just standing there, awaiting for something to happen.  
  
Takeru smiled.  
  
Hikari smiled back, slightly freaked out.  
  
"Hika-chaaaaaaan." Miyako pounced at Hikari, arriving from outside just decaseconds later. "Let's go to the maaaaaaaaaall." Miyako slumped on Hikari, her hands wrapped around Hikari to keep from falling. She also made no attempt to close the door, probably due to her tiredness. She also seems horribly hyper, which somehow contradicted her being tired. But she was just leaning on Hikari in front of the entrance, not wanting to move. Maybe tired.  
  
"Miyako-chan, you seem so tired though." Hikari bent her back a little to support Miyako.  
  
"You don't understand. Even if I have to walk and carry stuff, simply being in the mall rejuvenates me." Miyako explained, her eyes closed, and still resting herself on Hikari. "Plus, you promised that you'd go to the mall with me everyday for a week."  
  
"Fine." Hikari sighed, defeated.  
  
Takeru stared. Hopeful.  
  
"Do you want to come too, Take-chan?" Hikari asked politely.  
  
Takeru's eyes twinkled. Although seemingly normal, going to the mall (with girls) is quite possibly one of the most relaxing activities he could do. Maybe it would help his odd mood swing, as well.  
  
"I-"  
  
Ken sprinted in, jumped, and used Miyako's back as an extra platform to double jump, removed his backpack in mid-air, and brutally slugged Takeru with it.  
  
"Have to study...uh...stuff, with me." Ken completed, standing on the fallen Takeru.  
  
"Oh, okay. Maybe next time, then."  
  
Ken dragged Takeru towards the right.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"What the hell was that?" Takeru rubbed his swollen cheek.  
  
"What were you doing?!" Ken demanded.  
  
Takeru sat on the bed, his limbs relaxed. "What?"  
  
"You were going to go to the mall with them!"  
  
"...And that's bad because Take-chan here rapes whoever he goes to the mall with?"  
  
"How come you're in my bed?" Ken asked Koushiro, aggravated.  
  
"This top bunk is the god. *All your base are belong to this bed. I like sleeping here now." Koushiro lazily replied.  
  
Ken inflated his face. "Anyway, I was going to say that it's dangerous, not only because going to the mall with them makes for extra chances that you get discovered, but if you get friendly with them, the chances of communication and being discovered would significantly increase."  
  
"Eh." Koushiro rolled to his side.  
  
Takeru lied on the bed, peering at Koushiro who is sleeping above. "I know what you mean, but I need to get a time out too, Ken."  
  
"Then go to the mall yourself!"  
  
"Who goes to the mall themselves if they don't have anything in particular to do there? Plus, I really want to go to the mall with girls for at least once."  
  
Ken growled in irritation. "You're being ridiculous, Takeru, I'm not going to be put in a dangerous position along with the rest of us just because of your dissatisfaction."  
  
"I'm sorry, Ken, but it's just that..." Takeru opened his mouth to continue talking, but closed it again. "No, never mind." Takeru rolled to his side similarly and closed his eyes, ignoring Ken.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
April 8, 2002 (3:49 p.m.)  
  
"Ne, Hikari-chan!" Takeru runs out of the 'boy's' side room. "Are you going to the mall? I want to-"  
  
Ken quickly followed Takeru out of the room, and slide tackled him down. Immediately afterwards, he grabbed a wagon out of *hammerspace, shoved Takeru in the small thing, and wheeled him back into the room.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
April 9, 2002 (3:45 p.m.)  
  
//[Takeru] I must succeed. I'll try to avoid all attacks this time.  
  
"Hikari-chan-"  
  
Ken sprints out of the room and jump kicks.  
  
Duck.  
  
Upon landing, Ken quickly grabs a soccer ball out of hammerspace, and shoots it at Takeru.  
  
Jump.  
  
Takeru was, however, blown back into the room by the electric guitar thrown at him (at 50m/s) after the soccer ball.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
April 12, 2002 (3:48 p.m.)  
  
//[Takeru] ...I must catch Hikari-chan and them before they leave...but if Ken gets me again...  
  
Takeru took a muted step out the room.  
  
Ken jumps on Takeru.  
  
Takeru's eyes widen.  
  
"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH! *Shinryukeeeeeeeeen!"  
  
Takeru's eyes trailed Ken as he was blasted out of from the roof, then continuing almost infinitely into the sky.  
  
Looking at his fist, Takeru's tears of thankfulness flooded.  
  
And he ran towards the entrance, where Hikari and Miyako just returned.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"So Takeru punched you, and you just flew over here." Kei repeated.  
  
"Pretty much." Ken said indifferently, his whole body on the ground.  
  
"You're still paying for the roof you crashed through, my LV coat that you caused to have coffee spilt on, not to mention the coffee."  
  
"That idiot." Ken stared at the monitor from the ground, his vision upside down to the monitor. Takeru happily treading. "I know that it's fun and all, but he should have some kind of limit or responsibility to that he should know and stop certain things for it." The screen vibrated, and panned, the monitor connecting wirelessly to the electronic bug that was never spotted.  
  
"He's just having fun." Kei's eyes similarly rested on the screen. "You're being awfully strict and uptight, Ken-san."  
  
"Having fun, but right now, he's being so careless!"  
  
"It doesn't matter, does it?"  
  
"I know, but it's just that..." Ken sighed.  
  
"Just that you kind of abandoned your parents in order to do this, so you would like it to be done well, right?" Kei's eyes are still on the screen, talking as if he was talking about anything else.  
  
"How...how did you...?" Ken stuttered, surprised.  
  
Kei glanced at Ken. "I've taken psychology in University, not a lot, but some. Plus, we have some background information on you."  
  
Kei sipped the remaining black coffee in the cup, his legs crossed. "You know, Takeru is actually doing a better job than you are."  
  
"What?"  
  
"This is a television act, you know. Aside from being not discovered, you're supposed to be entertaining. Being all stiff and boring and simply getting past the year is just doing the minimal."  
  
Ken kept silent.  
  
"We won't let you go for too long without anything special happen, anyway." Kei threw the empty paper cup on the nearest table, got up from the chair, and crouched beside Ken.  
  
"Get up now. Just go out there and have fun and that."  
  
Pushing his upper body up with his arms, Ken sat upright.  
  
"We'll test the new experimental cannon. It shoots people to locations." Kei grinned, his hands almost twitching, as if ready to grab Ken, run across the hall, stuff him into the cannon, and fire him away.  
  
"Who the hell are you, Doraemon?"  
  
"I wish."  
  
"I understand. But I'll still keep Takeru from doing anything too extreme." Ken raised his hands to brush over the corner of his lips.  
  
"Just don't overdo it. I'll get fired if I don't keep you guys under satisfactory misbehaviour." Kei frowned.  
  
"So?"  
  
"So, if that happens, I'll kidnap you all, and we'll play *Russian roulette with a full chamber. Six bullets for six people, everyone gets lucky."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Miyako slightly leered at Takeru. The absolutely genki Takeru was reasonably genki, but still, something was out of place. Something that made Miyako rather uncomfortable. Perhaps it was just that Takeru is more of a stranger.  
  
"I can't walk for too long today, Miyako-chan." Hikari said to her watch. "I've got to work today."  
  
"It's alright, the café is in the mall anyway. I'll wait until you're done, like always."  
  
Hikari flattened her lips.  
  
"Fine, just don't come in and disturb me like always."  
  
"What? It's not like you'll get fired." Miyako grinned.  
  
"Well, I suppose. But still."  
  
Boom.  
  
Blink.  
  
"Hey, Ken-chan. Where'd were you?" Miyako lifted her cheeks, but refrained from smiling too much.  
  
"Oh. Nothing. Take-chan told me to come with her." Ken kindly said, sitting on top of Takeru.  
  
"Like hell I did."  
  
Stomp.  
  
Takeru's eyes watered.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"What are you doing?" Takeru breathed, walking steps behind Hikari and Miyako.  
  
"Keeping an eye on you." Ken didn't look at Takeru.  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?"  
  
"I don't want you to screw us all up by doing something stupid."  
  
"I'm not going to screw up."  
  
[If he screws up, the ratings will be high when we air it.]  
  
"Shut up."  
  
"We are going there for a bit." Hikari pointed towards the store on the left side, seeing at Takeru and Ken are occupied.  
  
Takeru had, like most Japanese people, not been very good in English. Also like most, he has to pronounce English words in explicit katakana, making them not sound like English at all. Furthermore, there were many vocabularies that he had not learned. For that reason, "*Victoria's Secret" seemingly had no meaning at all.  
  
Ken, on the other hand, is quite fluent in English. But matters cast aside; he could tell what kind of store it is by what they sell through the glass windows.  
  
"It's okay, we'll follow you." Takeru blankly uttered, his eyes still focusing on the sign of the store more than anything else.  
  
Nudge.  
  
"What?"  
  
Elbow.  
  
"Ouch! What?"  
  
Slap.  
  
"What the hell are you-"  
  
The slap on the head had certainly directed Takeru's eyes away from the sign and into the store.  
  
"Oh."  
  
Embarassed and reluctant, Ken and Takeru slowly followed Hikari and Miyako with their heads down.  
  
As always, keeping a certain distance, except this time more distance, Ken gave Takeru a death-stare.  
  
Faintly, words travelled.  
  
Miyako looked at Hikari, a concerned expression on her face.  
  
"You know, lately, my...seems to have grown bigger. And my...feels tighter."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"...my wrist seems to grown bigger. And my bracelet feels tighter..." Miyako glanced at her braided bracelet, soft colours radiating.  
  
"Oh well. I don't seem to have anything to buy here. Take your time, Hikari."  
  
Turn.  
  
"Are you okay, Ken-chan?!"  
  
Ken roughly wiped the blood dripping from his nose with his arm.  
  
"It must be all the fried food I've been having lately. I'll go to the washroom to clean myself- my blood off." And Ken quickly ran out of the store, refusing to look back.  
  
Takeru watched as Ken ran off. Ken has been a bit strange lately. Everyone has been a bit strange lately. Takeru himself has been a bit strange lately. Perhaps crossdressing had an odd effect on them, but it seemed not only that. The environment, the circumstances, everything has driven them, Takeru included, to desire more and more from life, taking chances and wanting rewards-  
  
Takeru's train of thought was cut off by the sight of a spiky brown haired slightly goofy looking guy right outside of the store, walking beside a fairly pretty girl, looking straight back at him. Separating them was a large piece of glass, which could be bypassed if you walk in the entrance. Trapped was Takeru, unless he manages to drill a hole in the wall. Frantically, he looked around.  
  
"Hikari-chan, take your time, I'll check up on Ken-chan and be back later!"  
  
Dash.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Takeru ran as fast as he could down the mall, bumping into various people, breaking apart close couples. Daisuke ran directly behind Takeru, having less trouble with collisions.  
  
//[Takeru] Dammit, why is that asshat still trailing me? Doesn't he ever get tired? Why does he have to be a soccer player, having lots of training in running? Would someone please come out and break his leg with a metal pole?  
  
The several fakes Takeru made were in vain. Faking in a large crowd of people, not to mention while running, is difficult to pull off. Not to mention no matter where he faked, he ended up running in the general direction of the crowd.  
  
Swallowing his breath, Takeru ran on.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Daisuke panted. Certainly that was Takeru he saw. Not only did the face look like his, but he was one of the few people that could outrun him. Daisuke suspiciously scanned the remaining hallway. A dead end with a few shops. Takeru was seen to ran in here. Maybe he's in the crowd, maybe he's in the stores. There was no escape.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Takeru looked back slightly. Daisuke was furiously shaking his head around.  
  
//So, he lost sight of me.  
  
Keeping a still eye on Daisuke, Takeru walked backwards away from Daisuke's position, his hands reaching out on his backside.  
  
Touch.  
  
Cold. Flat. It wasn't someone's ass, and certainly not living.  
  
Corners. Takeru's hand felt corners.  
  
//It must be a pillar.  
  
Takeru swiftly spun and matched his back to a side of the pillar so that the pillar blocks his presence to where Daisuke was standing. His hands remained touching the pillar. It was abnormally cold.  
  
His mind started pondering upon what material the pillar was made from. He had not even looked at the so-called pillar, but his hands felt like it was a pillar. No matter if it was or not, it was something solid, and it should hide him. The pillar was thin beyond belief, Takeru had so squeeze himself into a stick so that he was thin enough for the pillar to hide him. Surely, if he had moved right now to check the material of the pillar, which made him curious, and got discovered by Daisuke, Ken would give him hell.  
  
Vocal: Hai! Tension- Tokimeki Memorial 2  
  
A pair of hands wrapped around Takeru.  
  
"Where-are-you-go-ing-dear?" Daisuke spewed each syllable softly into Takeru's ear.  
  
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Takeru wiped his eyes.  
  
"I'm sorry!" Daisuke frantically apologized.  
  
"You didn't have to scare me..." Takeru pouted.  
  
"I thought it would be funny...but you didn't have to go and piss your...pant...ies."  
  
Scornfully, Takeru wish that he could crush that transparent glass pillar.  
  
"Wait." Daisuke rolled his eyes up, as if something was missing.  
  
Daisuke opened his mouth wide and pointed accusingly at Takeru. "You should be doing the explaining! What's with the drag!? How come you and Ken and Taichi and the others signed out of school without telling me?! You weren't even home when I phoned your house! You all had me so worried! Where the hell have you been?!"  
  
Takeru regretfully looked diagonally down from the bench he's sitting at. "Well..."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
*"So, it's like that." Takeru sighed.  
  
"Oh wow." Daisuke blinked. Shock to him is now an understatement. "Just when I left that day...Then you guys...that would explain it. Why you're wearing a skirt, and all..."  
  
"Take-chan!"  
  
Takeru bit his lips. Surprises like these better come in years, if he had a lot today, he better have a lot less for the rest of the year.  
  
"Have you seen Miyako-chan?" Hikari frowned. "She ran off when I was still looking at-"  
  
Blink.  
  
Likewise, Daisuke stared back at Hikari.  
  
"Give me a second." Said Takeru as he dragged Daisuke metres away.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"She is...?" Daisuke glanced at Hikari that is standing impatiently, far away, then looked back at Takeru.  
  
"One of our...roommates. You could say."  
  
"Introduce us."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
Daisuke pushed his lips into a straight line. "You know, when I was chasing after you, I had to ditch this girl I just met, and we were going just fine. Now she's probably all pissed off, and went home. It's all your fault."  
  
Takeru wrinkled his eyebrows and pointed a finger at himself.  
  
"Yes, you. This girl...seems pretty cute. It's time to repay me." Daisuke tapped his finger against his chin.  
  
"..."  
  
//[Takeru] Daisuke? Hikari? Oh gosh. If I let Daisuke date Hikari, Daisuke would probably easily leak all of our secrets to her. He has no willpower when it comes to girls. Plus, Hikari may be the only compatible girl I could possibly have for the 'bonus'.  
  
Takeru slipped a 10000 yen bill in Daisuke's hand. Painfully, it had been his allowance. Takeru pulled the confused Daisuke back to where Hikari was, forcefully.  
  
"Let me introduce you two." Takeru exclaimed in a fake happy smile.  
  
"Daisuke, this is my roommate, Hikari."  
  
Courteous nod.  
  
"Hikari-chan, this is my boyfriend, Daisuke."  
  
"What?!!"  
  
Takeru tugged at the barely visible paper bill in Daisuke's hand.  
  
Daisuke shuts up.  
  
"Umm. Yeah, nice to meet you."  
  
Handshake.  
  
"Anyway, do you know where Miyako-chan is?" Hikari asked, worried. "Her cell isn't on either."  
  
"Maybe she went to where Ken-chan is."  
  
//[Daisuke] Ken is here too?  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Ken splashed water at his face. Things like these were hard to get used to. Having gone to the boy's room in the previous twelve years of his life, plus, having only one bathroom in the school had not helped his instinctive impulse to automatically go to towards the men's bathroom (there were gasps when he entered, and some 'aww's when he exited in embarrassment). He had better develop a tolerance for things that lead to nosebleeds, too, although the thought of developing a tolerance for that is not awfully pleasant.  
  
Wiping his face with a paper towel, he walked towards the door, then it suddenly opened and Miyako was standing there.  
  
"There you are, Ken-chan." Miyako sighed in relief.  
  
The trauma of being in the same bathroom as a girl is surging through Ken. Hopefully, it will be the last.  
  
"Um-um...um...yeah."  
  
"It's so boring with Hikari-chan. She was arguing with some other girl that laughed at her bra size when she was picking one out. They then started fighting about something like how a lot of parts of her were cuter because she was more petit, but the other girl was just saying something about it's size that matters..." Miyako shook her head in disinterest.  
  
When Miyako looked back at Ken, he was practically tearing off paper towels from the dispenser and stuffing his face in them.  
  
"Are you really okay?"  
  
"Yeah. Let's go."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Funny. I swear she was here a minute ago." Miyako bit her nails in frustration.  
  
"Maybe she stopped arguing with this girl about...stuff." Ken said in a small voice.  
  
"Great. Now we've lost them, and they don't know where we are either."  
  
"Them?"  
  
"Yeah, Take-chan ran off sometime ago. I don't know why, though."  
  
"Oh."  
  
Ken brushed his locks aside. They were so long and full of substance due to being tied that it constantly poked his face. It also pissed him off that he couldn't use his locks as a weapon because it's long, but not long enough. It would be a nice poking weapon if he could detach them, but he was one of the few that had his actual hair styled instead of a wig, and he wasn't going to have them cut off. But they look pretty on him, so Ken always forgives the locks.  
  
"Is there anywhere you're meeting up?"  
  
"Not particularly. But Hikari does have to go to work later at the Glass Café, so she'll probably go there a bit later."  
  
"Let's wait there, then."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Miyako-san, nice to see you again." The waiter greeted by the counter as he streaked on roller blades with two plates of drinks in both his hands.  
  
"Hey. How's it going today, Takuma-kun?" Miyako waved at the waiter.  
  
"Takuma is one of the more essential waiters here. He might not be the best waiter, but he's polite, friendly, and good looking, which attracts female customers." Miyako explained to Ken over her shoulder. "Although he sometimes attracts male customers too." She corrected herself.  
  
"It's kind of busy, so if you don't mind, take a seat yourself as you like." Takuma rollerbladed back into the kitchen, which isn't much of a kitchen, since only drinks are made, and only more complex drinks are made inside, as the more simple ones can be made on counter, which resembles the ones in bars.  
  
Miyako hummed positively to herself as she walked straight to a moderately large table and sat down. Quickly followed by Ken.  
  
Flipping the pages quickly, Miyako dropped the menu and simply screamed, "Takuma-kuuuuun, I'll have the usual, please."  
  
"Okay." was the answer that indistinctively came out from the kitchen.  
  
"..."  
  
Ken seems to be mesmerized by the menu, for the lack of anything else better to do.  
  
"Ne, Ken-chan."  
  
Ken slightly jumped.  
  
"Wha-what is it?"  
  
"I just want to apologize for a few days ago." Miyako scratches her cheek with one finger.  
  
"...A few days?" Ken looks back at her, confused.  
  
"You know. When you moved in."  
  
"Ah?"  
  
"I was being so suspicious and hostile to you."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"I didn't really mean it, but it's just that it seemed as if something was weird about you."  
  
"Eh?"  
  
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean weird in a bad way. It's just that you seem...a bit different."  
  
"Is that right."  
  
"I feel that you and your friends seem a bit different from the girls I used to meet and know, so, I just felt kind of suspicious and all."  
  
"It's alright."  
  
"I really shouldn't have been so mean that day, but I was really pissed off."  
  
"Pissed off?"  
  
"Yeah. This guy that I said you looked like, Ichijouji Ken, he said that he would phone me back, but he never did."  
  
Gulp.  
  
"May-maybe he was busy."  
  
"Too busy for a phone call, how stuck-up can you get?"  
  
"I-I, I'm just saying he might have been, there's probably a better reason."  
  
"Ah, let's not talk about it. I get so mad when I do."  
  
"Yeah, let's do that."  
  
"So, what are you like?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"I like to know about people. Tell me about you. Anything. Family, background, love life, anything at all."  
  
"Er...for family...I have...two parents."  
  
"Any siblings?"  
  
[Oto.]  
  
"Oto?" Ken repeated, confused at what Kei meant.  
  
(Oto is a short form for 'younger brother'.)  
  
"You have a younger brother? That's nice, my brother is old. He gets so annoying sometimes."  
  
Ken blinked. Because of Kei, now Ken has another factor, a lie, that could rip his identity up.  
  
"Umm. Yeah. Mine is...e.r...annoying, as well."  
  
"Ken?"  
  
Blink.  
  
Ken looked up beside him.  
  
"Eh?! I...Iori?!"  
  
Vocal: Shukufuku - Love Hina Iori scrunched up into an angry face. "What are you doing here?! How come you left school without telling me!? Why are you dressed like this? Why? Why? Why?!"  
  
Ken nervously stared Iori in his eyes, occasionally flicking his eyes off to Miyako's direction, as if signalling for Iori to shut up in front of Miyako.  
  
"Um...Miyako-chan, this is my oto, Iori." Ken laughed sheepishly, wanting to smash his own head into the ground so that he would die already and wouldn't have such a hard time.  
  
Iori looked at Ken. Ken nodded.  
  
Iori lightly relaxed his face, his mind still tangled in the odd events. It didn't matter, Ken needed help right now, being a friend, Iori has to help, even if it was telling a lie.  
  
"Inoue Miyako. Nice to meet you." Miyako reached her hand out.  
  
"Hida Iori, nice to meet you."  
  
Miyako blinked. "Hida?"  
  
Ken quickly reached his hand between Iori and Miyako. "Umm! Umm! Iori is a delinquent, he hates the family name so he changed it on his own, and umm, he calls me 'Ken' because he doesn't like to call me onee-san, but he hates names that end in ko, so he eliminated that. And he's angry because I left school because he annoys me at school and I didn't tell him so that he wouldn't follow me! And he doesn't like me dressing in anything that isn't goth!"  
  
Ken let out a breath, wondering if his rash excuse is working.  
  
[You really should be in improves.]  
  
"I'm...a delinquent?" Iori pointed at himself.  
  
Ken nods. And nods. And nods.  
  
"He isn't dressing in goth either." Miyako observed.  
  
"He only likes dressing me in goth!" Ken practically screamed out.  
  
"Umm. Okay. He doesn't seem to be so bad, though."  
  
Ken looks at Iori again, calling for help.  
  
"Uhh. Yeah. I'm a delinquent." Iori said with a forced evil laugh. "I'm a...bad boy." Iori raised one of his feet and stepped on the chair (he would've stepped on the table for a more convincing effect if he did it on a table, but he wasn't tall enough).  
  
//Ken better have a damn well excuse for this.  
  
"You, uh, want to, uh, go out with me?" Iori winked. Forcefully.  
  
Ken quickly got off his seat and pushed Iori towards the direction of the exit.  
  
Iori looked at the group that stood in front of them, coming in from the entrance/exit.  
  
"Daisuke? Take-mmph"  
  
Ken grinned nerve-wreckingly as he covered Iori's mouth.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"So you all know each other."  
  
A series of nods.  
  
Takeru peeked from his seat at Hikari, who was putting a simple name tag and a little waitress apron over her clothes by the counter.  
  
"Great, so we're all acquainted." Miyako smiled. And reached an arm over to Daisuke. "Inoue Miyako."  
  
"Motomiya Daisuke"  
  
Shake.  
  
"So, how are you related to them?" Miyako curiously asked.  
  
"I'm Takeko's boyfriend." Daisuke answered as he put an arm around Takeru's shoulders. Takeru scowled. Daisuke now finding Takeru too feminine to resist and constantly hitting on him, whether it's a joke or not, is very annoying.  
  
"Ooo." Miyako covered her mouth. "What stage are you at?"  
  
"That, is a very good question." Daisuke raised his index finger as a 'point'. "Last year, Christmas, we went out of a date, we went to a movie, had a romantic dinner, then, afterwards, we went to the hotel-"  
  
Takeru slammed Daisuke's head into the table.  
  
"-with our friends to have fancy dessert." Takeru finished for Daisuke.  
  
Oddly, from within the dented table, Daisuke somehow heard "If you try to be creative again, you fucking bastard, I will castrate you."  
  
"Oh." Miyako nodded understandingly.  
  
Iori shifted uncomfortably.  
  
"You know what, I think I've got to go..." Iori politely said.  
  
Ken stared at Iori.  
  
"To...umm...go pimpin'."  
  
"I think I should go too." Daisuke stood up, removing his face from the table.  
  
"Oh, okay. It was nice meeting you two, bye." Miyako waved.  
  
Takeru watched as Daisuke and Iori slowly walked towards the exit of the café, frequently exchanging glances, like if they can't wait to talk to each other.  
  
And Daisuke stopped.  
  
To talk to Hikari.  
  
Hikari giggled at whatever Daisuke said.  
  
Daisuke put on his goofy grin.  
  
Takeru threw a plate at Daisuke's head.  
  
Daisuke walked out along with Iori.  
  
"You should really watch your boyfriend." Miyako noted. "He's a flirt cannon."  
  
"I seriously don't know why the hell I'm dating him." Takeru sighed.  
  
//Besides the obvious, like keeping him away from Hikari.  
  
Carrying menus, Hikari skipped slightly to their table, beaming.  
  
"So, what will it be for you two, since Miya...ko...orde..red." Hikari's words suddenly slowed down and became less enthusiastic. "*This looks familiar." She glares at Takeru.  
  
Ken.  
  
Takeru.  
  
Miyako.  
  
Ken and Takeru on opposite ends.  
  
Miyako beside Ken.  
  
In the café.  
  
Takeru and Ken looked at each other, leaped up past the girls, and ran out the exit.  
  
"Huh? What was wrong?" Hikari turned her head around to see raising smokes from the running.  
  
"What's wrong with all of you?" Miyako asked, addressing the slightly edgy question to Hikari.  
  
"Huh? What do you mean?"  
  
"You were looking a bit scary back there."  
  
"Oh. Take-chan was wearing that DKNY shirt that I really wanted. It's limited, and I can't even find it on eBay."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Are they chasing after us, are they?!?!" Takeru cried out, his tears forming a trail in the air behind him.  
  
"I don't know! I don't know!" Ken ran as hard as Takeru, desperately attempting to find a way out of the dreaded mall.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Tuduku.  
  
BGM: Aban - Digimon 01  
  
Yamato: On next episode of Boku/Ata: I get into trouble with various of my fangirls spotting my face out. Also, a surprise comes as I know about the Teenage Wolves' Summer Concert.  
  
Taichi: You suck! Your next episode previews are so boring!  
  
Yamato: Shut the hell up, Taichi!  
  
Taichi: Suck my ass!  
  
Yamato: *throws a guitar*  
  
Taichi: Ow! You asshole! Watch me bitchslap you!  
  
(Note: No actual guitar throwing is done during the next preview section. Bitchslapping, however, is another question.)  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Alright. Well, that was that. That was extra long, I guess that could probably compensate for the one week absence, since it was about double chapter long. Argh. It's 5:30 am. I'm soooo tired.  
  
Also, one note. The Japanese teacher is named Kamiya for a reason (well, it is, after all, a legitimate Japanese name, anyone that knows Japanese or is a Rurouni Kenshin fan will tell you that), it locks in deeper to the plot than just a name, if you watch the English dub, you would know that Kamiya is Taichi and Hikari's last name rather than Yagami, and I'm trying to use that last name to relate back to Taichi and Hikari. Plus, if you add a " to the ka hiragana, which gives ga, then rearrange it, you'd get Yagami (odd, no?) =p.  
  
(Extra Section added in after initial posting (corresponds with extra note at top):  
  
1) "All your base are belong to this bed" refers to the joke "All your base are belong to us." from 'Zero Wing'.  
  
2) Hammerspace refers to the 'cyberspace' or 'hyperspace' in which anime girls pull out hammers out of nowhere, the hammerspace having infinite storage space and is constantly accessible.  
  
3) Shinryuken is the super move in which Ken from Street Fighter uses, he raises his fist and jumps to make a fiery stationary twister which his opponent will be engulfed in if hit.  
  
4) Russian roulette is a game you play with a revolver with one bullet in the chamber and aim it at your head. You're not sure which chamber the bullet is in, so you exchange shots with whoever you're playing against and see who gets their head blown off. Exciting game, really...  
  
5) Victoria's Secret is a lingerie store. But we all know that, right?  
  
6) Referring to the general event. It's actually alright for Daisuke and Iori to know because they're not in the Sakura school, like stated in the agreement. 7) Reference to sitting formation in the very first prelude chapter.  
  
Anyway. Review. I hope that I have time next week to get the chapter in as well.  
  
Ja.  
  
-Lumi 


	12. Episode 4: Guitar Rush

Boku-tachi/Atashi-tachi  
  
Hello everyone again. First note: I've fixed the last chapter with a little out-of-the-story guide to anything that's possibly confusing or some reference. Check it now if you want, it should be updated unless your cache still has the same page.  
  
New reviewers include: hpdigigal, Hopeful Writer, reader, ?????????? (or something), Matrix Guardian, ignis, and Nanaki-Roren.  
  
Thank you for ALL of your reviews, everyone. You've been lovely. I love you all (in the most unromantic way, unless you want it otherwise).  
  
Some questions answered:  
  
hpdigigal: Is Ms. Kamiya somehow related to Taichi and Hikari???  
  
Well...yes. But I'm not supposed to say that. God. Another plot point made predictable. =x  
  
Melinda: How many chapters are there in the whole story?  
  
You could probably make a better guess than I do. I'm more of making more up as I go along, although I do have a general storyline to follow. But it's really hard to estimate the chapters. So that'll be unresolved for now. I'll tell you how many when I'm finished the last chapter. ;D  
  
TheAngelofLove: Are you going to introduce anymore of the digimon?  
  
That seems like a good idea...but no. Sorry, but it's just going to be Gabumon. I want to, but it might the logic and reasoning between plot points so rigid that it hurts.  
  
And are you going to show any relationship between Matt and Gabumon at all?  
  
You bet. No, it's not romantic. The thought of Yamato and Gabumon crossbreeding cringes me.  
  
This chapter is Yamato-based, as well as first person-ish, but only not. I'm kind of screwed over, so I'll switch between first person to third person to first/third person. That means it won't be as funny. Why? Yamato and a whole chapter of humour just...doesn't fit. I'm sorry if you were expecting lots of funnies this chapter, but this chapter's going to stay this way. Unless I go berserk again and make everything funny this chapter, which it actually not all that improbable  
  
So, those who are all in it for the (attempted) humour, please try to enjoy this chapter as well.  
  
Also an apology for the lateness of this chapter, a chapter will be attempted to be released on Saturday/Sunday, as usual. I blame Writer's Block, like everyone else.  
  
Disclaimer: Any Digimon characters (as well as a bit of Gravitation characters which I will use as a plug in turn for the inability to think up new names) are not mine.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Episode 4: Guitar Rush  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
April 14, 2002  
  
Today is Sunday. Without school, we are restricted to, more or less, staying within the 'house'.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"See, I told you he was blood type A!"  
  
Yamato glanced over. The central living room. Without any actual activity, they are all confined in the very same room, talking. Despite the apparent similarity of genders, two groups were still broken up to have their own conversations.  
  
Yamato glanced over. The girls were talking. They've decided to quiz each other upon singers and stars, and see if their answers are correct in their-  
  
Yamato stared and counted in his head. Approximately sixty magazines, stacked neatly in piles of dozens. Each with lots of profiles of singer and stars, either on the side of pages or as a main feature included in an interview.  
  
The girls squealed. Male singers and stars. Of course.  
  
"Umm! Kimura Takuya's birthday!" Miyako said, a bit too loud.  
  
"Pass." Sora shook her head, knowing that it's impossible to guess a birthday, since she's unsure of it.  
  
Mimi tsked disapprovingly. "Geez, it's Kimura Takuya! How could you not know?"  
  
Yamato looked back and forth between the 'girls' and the 'guys'. Although the discussion between the guys, to Yamato, wasn't in pure clarity, the girls are like those strange black and white shape photos where you can't really tell which is where and what.  
  
Yamato reached his arm across the table, grabbed the cup of coffee, and sipped it.  
  
"Let's see." Mimi streaked her finger down the book. "Ishida Yamato's interests."  
  
And spat it out.  
  
Sora lightly pressured her finger between her lips.  
  
"As far as I know, he likes playing guitar."  
  
//No shit, Sherlock. I do it for a living.  
  
"I think he played the harmonica as well...but that's not really a major interest."  
  
//That's it? Damn, I'm a boring person.  
  
Squeals.  
  
"Look, look! It's a full blown poster of Ishida Yamato."  
  
Everyone gazed at the poster, held outwards. It was true. A poster, Ishida Yamato. Blown up was one of the words, although freaking huge was more fitting. A poster of Ishida Yamato in a leather jacket, swinging his head upwards, his hair seemingly to float in midair. It was so big that everything was clear. The hair, every single thread. Hell, the pores too.  
  
"That looks familiar..."  
  
Yamato grunted under the thrown table, desperately trying to crawl away.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------- "So you're Ishida Yamato's half-sister, but he doesn't know you exist?"  
  
None of the background stories were ever award winners.  
  
"And I don't want to disturb him, it might affect his career and all, so he doesn't know me."  
  
Somehow, Yamato thought, a story about taking revenge on Ishida Yamato, therefore concealing the identity, seemed infinitely better, despite how crappy that sounds.  
  
The girls promptly scattered away, as if they were saying "Yeah. Okay. Whatever." Perhaps they had found, although the female Yamato's fake identity interesting, but useless. Whatever it was, although somehow logical, the girls are not acting as they should be. No "So Takeru is also related to Yamato?", "So that's why you look so alike.", nor "So did your father knock up his mother or did his father knock up your mother?"  
  
Yamato decided to ignore whatever it was that was bothering him. He would much less not have the third degree on him.  
  
"Hey, hey, Yamato! How come they let you up so easily?"  
  
"Yeah! How come?"  
  
"Are you letting them in on something?"  
  
"You let them know about 'this', didn't you?!"  
  
"You traitor!"  
  
Which he got anyway.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
The girls went for shopping again. It was one of the things that makes Yamato not understand females. It's like reading a book. Except you reread it for a couple dozen times. Can't imagine the kick in that. Unless it was Taichi, who uses the book to assist him to sleep, but that's not really reading anyway, so it doesn't count.  
  
Without a company, a reason, Taichi and Koushiro decided to migrate back into the room, and, Ken and Takeru, as usual, agreed doubtlessly. Yamato followed. It wasn't a bad idea, dozens of windows were available in the room to cool the temperature down.  
  
Taichi plopped onto the closest seat to him. And jumped. "Ahh! This chair is so hot!"  
  
"I didn't know you had a fetish for furnitures."  
  
Unsure of who said that, Taichi picked up the chair and threw it in the general direction of the group.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Hearts flush." Koushiro placed down the cards clumsily one by one.  
  
It was a pain. Yamato thought.  
  
Girls usually can resort to any topic or shopping to spend time. However, in this case, a group of guys with two nerds (one who is a techie), a bird nest, and someone who is best described as his brother can only resort to playing cards, with the lack of common conversation.  
  
"Ne, you guys?" Yamato spoke softly.  
  
A "Hmm?" in accord.  
  
"Is it just me, or, without the girls here, we can go around as guys?"  
  
Freeze.  
  
Freeze.  
  
Frozen.  
  
"AHHHHHH!" Taichi screamed as he ran out the door, knowing that he wasted a holy thirty minutes that could've been used to very greatly on cards.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Are you ready yeeet?" Takeru screamed from the hall, jumping with excitement. Not wearing a bra has never been this much fun.  
  
Smoothly tearing the plastic piece from his mouth, Yamato threw the wig down by his bed, calmly relieved of his heavy arsenal.  
  
Blue cotton shirt. Semi-buttoned.  
  
Dark pants.  
  
Freedom.  
  
Yamato lightly pulled the waist of the pants away from his slim waist and looked inside.  
  
Not quite.  
  
//But...no one would know, right? It's not like some pervert walks around with an infrared video camera that sees through everything but silk panties.  
  
Yamato took a step towards the door.  
  
//But accidents DO happen. Who knows what will occur?  
  
And a step back.  
  
//Oh come on, who is going to look inside MY pants?  
  
Step forward.  
  
//But people do say that I AM good looking. Who knows what pervs I might attract.  
  
And back.  
  
"Yamato!! What the hell is taking you?"  
  
"Coming!" Yamato replied and quickly brushed his hair apart with his hands, confirming his look in the mirror before rushing out.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Koushiro's eyes set on his G-Shock digital watch, waiting for the second counter to turn to '00', so that the minute counter will as well.  
  
"So we meet back here in...say, three hours?"  
  
Taichi similarly looked down at his watch.  
  
"Where? Here?"  
  
Blink.  
  
Yamato stared at Taichi. Then at the white perpendicular set of lines he is walking in.  
  
"You could wait here, but we won't bother to cremate you."  
  
A car zooms by.  
  
"By that clock tower, then, at 5:00 p.m." Koushiro pointed.  
  
Glance.  
  
Takeru whispers to Ken.  
  
Ken whispers to Takeru.  
  
//Strange. Takeru and Ken haven't been saying a lot today. Except to each other.  
  
The two opened their mouths in awe at the flawless computer graphics in motion at, as Taichi calls it, "big fucking screen" that is located at the flat supposively corner up high on the two story building.  
  
Kingdom Hearts commercial.  
  
//This is somewhat unlike them. Something must have happened. Like getting overdosed with estrogen and getting it on with each other.  
  
Ken again, whispered something intimately into Takeru's ear.  
  
//Oh god no.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Yamato walked casually down the street, flowing slowly amongst the infinite crowd of people he is immersed in, the sun reflecting off his sunglasses.  
  
Yes, his sunglasses.  
  
Sunglasses with a dark blue edge which would be otherwise seen as black unless closely examined.  
  
Sunglasses, because, the girls had said the name 'Ishida Yamato' after 'Kimura Takuya'. That means he has fans that even spread to an all girl's school. If he has fans there that means there must be rabid fangirls stalking behind the corner waiting to drag Yamato into an alley and rip his shirt apart.  
  
//The shirt is an Armani, you bitches.  
  
Yamato shook his head, returning to his general point of thought.  
  
Of course, wearing sunglasses screams "I'm well known, run after me and take the sunglasses off!", but, Yamato, hopefully, wishes to be mistaken as one of those "I'm blind" people. Better than taking a chance to walk around with sunglasses than without, letting him vulnerable. But even if he does have fans, it's not likely that everyone would recognize him in the streets, not that many people know him anyway...  
  
Yamato blinked at the poster stuck on the wall, one person tall, two person wide.  
  
Hajime. Koichi. Takayuki.  
  
Yamato. Big. Holding a mic with both hands, his electric guitar hanging from the strap.  
  
Big smooth cursive letters at the front.  
  
'Teenage Wolves Summer Concert '02'  
  
Taking off his sunglasses, Yamato squinted even harder, hoping that he missed something written, even though each letters was as large as his hand.  
  
Something. Anything. Something like 'Teenage Wolves NOT HAVING Summer Concert '02'.  
  
//Dammit, Hajime, what the hell are you thinking?  
  
Gasps.  
  
"Look! It's Ishida Yamato!"  
  
And off Yamato sprints.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Yamato panted heavily, then summoned the strength to close the door, and lied on the seat, his head stretching as far back as the seat allows.  
  
"Where to?" The taxi driver presses a few buttons, and the digital values on the set in the middle console starts flashing.  
  
"Anywhere." Yamato said in between pants. "I've, ah, got time to, uh, spare."  
  
Yamato reached a hand in front and tapped the taxi driver's shoulder.  
  
"Actually, drive me to Miyaka Street."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Yamato glanced at his watch.  
  
3:36.  
  
On a Sunday.  
  
They should be here.  
  
Yamato creaked open the door, letting out explosive drum beats and heavy background solos.  
  
Bingo.  
  
Opening the door widely, Yamato stepped in.  
  
Beats stopped.  
  
Notes stopped.  
  
Chords stopped.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Yamato!" Hajime exclaimed. Yamato ran up to Hajime, took out a knife, stabbed him in the stomach, buried him in the ground, unburied him, and removed the knife while practicing recovery surgery.  
  
"What the hell?!" Yamato rashly took off his sunglasses with one hand and violently threw it on the ground.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
Yamato turned around, his back facing the practice area.  
  
A large poster, exact same as the one he saw, posted right against the white wall.  
  
"Oh. That."  
  
Koichi walked around the drum set, and paced to where Hajime was, behind a thick black line as a representation for the limit of the stage.  
  
"What's wrong?" Koichi asked.  
  
Infuriated, Yamato punched the wall, more precisely, the poster.  
  
"You weren't supposed to have a bloody concert! I told you I wasn't going to be here, what the hell is wrong with you, Hajime?! I told you to tell them!"  
  
"He told us."  
  
Yamato turned around again.  
  
Koichi, bearing long hair, although not with prettiness like Yamato, but with relatively acute features, gave Yamato an angry stare.  
  
"What?" Yamato asked. Pissed.  
  
"NG Studios came. They wanted so sign us." Koichi spoke matter-of-factly.  
  
Blink.  
  
"N...NG? You're kidding." Yamato stuttered, his anger beginning to fade, but quickly regained his stance.  
  
"That's right. Seguchi-san came. He said that he would sign us under the circumstances that we have a concert by summer and release a debut album under NG before then."  
  
Ring.  
  
"That would be them right there. I'll go get the phone." Hajime pointed at the direction of the sound, frowning.  
  
"I'll go too." Koichi followed.  
  
"Wait for me!" as did Takayuki, who quickly left the keyboard.  
  
Open.  
  
Slam.  
  
Yamato walked slowly across the guitar rack, choosing between the bass or electric guitar, both his, as well as being all that is left on the rack.  
  
Sighing, he grabbed the neck with six strings.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Yamato held his forehead. He was not only in a dilemma, but he is screwed either way.  
  
"Oi." Hajime waved as he came out of the door.  
  
Yamato looked.  
  
No Koichi.  
  
"We decided to let Koichi do all the management." Hajime pointed over his shoulders. "We're no good in that."  
  
"He looks so scary when he's serious...!" Takayuki, with very boyish and cute features exclaimed, putting his glasses down to wipe his eyes.  
  
"Yamato?"  
  
A questioning stare.  
  
"Ah...umm." Hajime scratched his head. "Never mind."  
  
"What is it?" Yamato asked in an unnaturally deep voice.  
  
Hajime shook his head. "You're not going to perform in the summer concert no matter what?"  
  
Yamato's lips parted slightly, but then closed again.  
  
"I...I understand. That's alright. I better go tell Koichi. Don't want him to presume anything."  
  
"Wait for me." Takayuki closely chased.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Yamato waited.  
  
He slowly played some chords on the electric guitar, then a solo part. Yamato shook his head, knowing the incomplete sound of a single guitar without anything else.  
  
//What the fuck is taking them?  
  
Yamato peered at the door again, then around him.  
  
Table.  
  
Drum set.  
  
Keyboard, situated on a stand.  
  
Electric guitar on the floor.  
  
White walls.  
  
Big fucking poster, starring Yamato himself.  
  
The series of hallways connected by the doorway on the wall of the poster and another at the entrance.  
  
This place belonged to Hajime's father, it was a practice studio mainly for bands. Due to the lack of customers, Hajime decided to pay a costly, but in comparison to normal prices, low fee to his father to rent it yearly, using profits from concerts.  
  
"This is it. Right here, I think."  
  
A female voice.  
  
"Are you sure? This place is kind of isolated."  
  
Another one.  
  
//Sora and Mimi. Shit. How'd they know?  
  
Closing steps.  
  
//You need to look different. Look different from Yamako so they find less similiarities. How? How? Bloody.  
  
Table.  
  
Floor.  
  
Guitars.  
  
Keyboards.  
  
Drums.  
  
Table.  
  
Glasses.  
  
Yamato quickly grabbed the pair of glasses and put it on him.  
  
He then turned around and tripped on the guitar.  
  
//Holy shit, these things are strong. I can't see a thing.  
  
Standing up again, and reflexively fixing his golden strandy hair, Yamato squinted and turned in a direction and walked.  
  
But crashed into the drum set.  
  
"Maybe they might not be here today."  
  
"Let's just go in and see first."  
  
//Argh. These things are horrible. If I don't fix this problem soon...  
  
//(  
  
Mimi pointed with her arm slightly bent, her other arm at her waist, almost posing stylishly.  
  
"Ishida Yamato?"  
  
"Yes?" Yamato turned around from the table, smiling freakishly and walking towards Mimi.  
  
Trip.  
  
Grab.  
  
Grope.  
  
Mimi, along with Sora, stared at the hand that is holding on to her breast uncomfortably.  
  
"Ahhhh! Pervert!"  
  
)  
  
//But then again, it might...  
  
//(  
  
Mimi pointed with her arm slightly bent, her other arm at her waist, almost posing stylishly.  
  
"Ishida Yamato?"  
  
"Yes?" Yamato turned around from the table, smiling freakishly and walking towards Mimi.  
  
Trip.  
  
Grab.  
  
Grope.  
  
Mimi, along with Sora, stared at the hand that is holding on to her breast uncomfortably.  
  
"Yay! Ishida Yamato is molesting me! I'm so happy!"  
  
)  
  
Not likely.  
  
Yamato put the pair of glasses in front of him and poked the lens, which popped out smoothly, surprisingly to Yamato, then put them back on.  
  
He watched as Mimi and Sora walked in, millions of questions travelled his mind, most focusing on 'why'.  
  
Gasps.  
  
"It's Ishida Yamato, in person." Sora whispered to Mimi. "Looks a lot like Yamako-chan."  
  
"Well, we ARE here to see him." Mimi murmured back.  
  
"Who are you?" Yamato questioned in a strict voice. "Who let you in?"  
  
Sora turned her head around, then back.  
  
"There was only an entrance and hallway, we didn't know that we're not allowed in here."  
  
Yamato sighed. Low budget practice studios and inexistent security.  
  
"How do you know this place?" Yamato interrogated.  
  
"We got it from a friend, who got it from a member of the band." Sora explained, her lips jutting out slightly, as if trying to figure out if what she said was correct.  
  
Mimi turned to Sora.  
  
"It was either Hajime or Koichi, I think."  
  
"Yeah."  
  
//Well, tell me who the hell it is so I can go and rip his fucking head off.  
  
"Anyway, get out of here." Yamato turned around coldly, waving his hand as a sign of dismissal.  
  
"No! We have something to say to you!" Mimi took a strong step forward.  
  
"Get lost."  
  
"Just because you are hot, can sing well, play the guitar, and is the band leader doesn't mean you can boss us around!" Sora shouted out hesitantly, her decibel level rising and dropping between every word.  
  
Sora whispered into Mimi's ear, and Mimi returned, and they both giggled.  
  
Yamato winced. He couldn't hear very well, but it was something about how embarrassing for Sora to say that Yamato was hot and perhaps he'll take it as a really good compliment because all the fangirls had been too shy to tell him that and perhaps he'll take her out and have dinner, at which then he confesses that he fell in love with her and proposes to marry her, then they plan this really large wedding with fancy flowery decorations all over the place, but fell in a difficult situation about deciding whether or not Yamato and his band should perform at his own wedding. He ignored that.  
  
"What are you talking about? Our band rented this place, I have a right to be bossy and you're not allowed to be here. Did you rent this place?" Yamato said irritatingly, walking over and picking up the guitar as if pretending that their presence was not.  
  
Blink.  
  
"That's beside the point!" Mimi retorted.  
  
Frowning, Sora stepped right in front of Mimi and softly spoke.  
  
"Do you know that you have a half-sister that's suffering horribly because she wants to recognize you as her brother, and her as your sister, but feels too horrible because she knows that she will be rejected and have her heart broken because she knows that you might not acknowledge her for your career, having a sister that looks like the exact twin of you and rumours of you getting incestuous and getting it on?"  
  
Yamato winced again.  
  
//I simply told her that 'Ishida Yamato' is my half brother which makes it more reasonable for my looks, and she interprets that one sentence into all this crap?  
  
"No, go away." Yamato repeated.  
  
"Are you heartless?!"  
  
//(  
  
Teenage girls with green glints in their eyes ride around on scooters and starts pulling all the concert posters down, ripping them into tiny shreds.  
  
"Down with heartless Yamato, down with Teenage Wolves!"  
  
)  
  
Yamato shivered.  
  
"Ah...um, just give me some kind of address." Yamato said in a lighter voice, his cheek twitching with acceleration.  
  
Sora pulls out card from her pocket and hands it to Yamato.  
  
"This is our address, but she lives with us."  
  
There had been many excuses to ignore them and throw them out, like 'What proof do you have?', or 'Mind your own business.', or 'She's my half- sister, but she is also derived from German Nazis', but just going their way makes everything easier and guarantees less visits in the future.  
  
Nod.  
  
Sora sighed in relief and relaxed into a less tense face.  
  
"Now that that is over..." Sora grabbed a large felt pen out of her pocket and pulled the end of her shirt outwards, so that it creates a flat surface.  
  
"Could you sign my shirt? I'm a big fan of yours!"  
  
//A little late for that, don't you think?  
  
Yamato grabbed the pen and quickly scribbled his name in quick motion.  
  
Mimi quickly walked up beside Sora.  
  
"Me too! I love your songs!"  
  
Mimi reached her hand over her buttocks.  
  
"I'm not signing asses again."  
  
Blink.  
  
And reached into her back pocket to pull out a piece of folded white paper.  
  
Scribble scribble.  
  
"You didn't wear glasses before." Mimi noted.  
  
"I'm wearing them now." Yamato replied. "I like to wear the frames when I want to."  
  
Blinks.  
  
"Thank you!" Both the girls said at the same time, then walked to the exit while squeal/giggling.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Did you get it ready?" Hajime looked back at Takayuki as they came out of the room.  
  
"You took a long time." Yamato grumbled.  
  
"Sorry, Seguchi Tohma-san said he wanted to talk to you face to face no matter what we told him."  
  
Takayuki placed a laptop on the table, unfolding it, and then pressed a few keys.  
  
A screen of a meek man with yellow and whitish hair popped up.  
  
"Hello, Ishida-san." Tohma greeted.  
  
Yamato stared in disbelief.  
  
"I know, my uncanny resemblance to Quatre from Gundam W."  
  
Yamato looked down sheepishly.  
  
"Anyway, when the rest of your band members said that they couldn't sign under us, I had decided to simply give up. But Makimura-san phoned me and convinced me otherwise, saying he has full operational charge of you, and you could fulfill the requirements given to sign under us and will sign under us."  
  
Yamato looked behind him.  
  
Down.  
  
Left.  
  
Up.  
  
Floating, the telltale bee.  
  
Which Yamato gave the finger to.  
  
"Uh-huh." Yamato turned back and replied indifferently.  
  
"I want you to release an album with your current songs as well as a few new ones, and have a summer concert in the Tokyo stadium. I hope you have no problem with that, have fun." Tohma smiled as he ended the transmission.  
  
"Nice going, Kei."  
  
"So, are you going to perform in the concert?" Koichi stood by the doorway.  
  
"It's not like I have a choice."  
  
"Right. Thanks." Koichi whispered as he went back into the room.  
  
Takayuki looked at the table, then quickly grabbed his pair of glasses which Yamato dropped after Sora and Mimi left and closed his eyes when he put them on.  
  
"I was looking for this! It was here, no wonder. I had a pain setting up the computer without glasses, I had to squint to see every single thing." Takayuki opened his eyes, finding his glasses without lenses, he spun dizzily and fell beside Yamato.  
  
And accidentally pulled Yamato's pants off.  
  
Yamato's eyes widened.  
  
As well as Hajime's, seeing panties.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Where did you go?" Koushiro asked, tapping his watch. "You're late."  
  
"Somewhere." Yamato bit his lips. "Where's Taichi?"  
  
Takeru pointed at the middle of the road, where Taichi is desperately avoiding cars and screaming in the heavy noise why they were waiting on the side when they said to wait in the middle of the road.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Yamato, now fully equipped with a wig, and the works, puts the steel stringed guitar which he had stocked in the practice studio on the ground, and sighed.  
  
Open and closing of door.  
  
"Yama-chan! We went to meet your brother today! He said he would come visit you sometime! Isn't that great?!"  
  
"I'll bet."  
  
"When the hell did I agree to visit?" Yamato muttered under his breath.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
BGM: Yamato's guitar - Ishida Yamato no Tegami (Track 4)  
  
Yamato stopped the violent strumming of his guitar, then held his forehead in despair.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Tuduku.  
  
BGM: Aban 02 - Digimon 02  
  
Kei: A collection of scenes of Taichi, Yamato, Koushiro, Takeru, and Ken as they return home from school.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Okay, this chapter is a bit rushed.  
  
Two things to clarify in the story:  
  
Seguchi Tohma and NG are taken from Gravitation.  
  
Ishida Yamato no Tegami is a drama track.  
  
Something like that.  
  
I'm sorry if this chapter was a bit boring, but I just wanted to move up a few chapters before I pick off anything in the more significant plot.  
  
I'm also apologetic for the massive creation of original characters. Don't worry, they're just here to support the little things, you won't see much of them.  
  
Well, that's that.  
  
Review.  
  
-Lumi 


	13. Interlude: Kaeri Michi

Boku-tachi/Atashi-tachi  
  
Hello again. I'm sorry for the late release last time (I usually release weekly, at weekends. You would probably catch me releasing the chapter somewhere near 4 am.) The untimely release resulted in less reviews than usual, but more than I expected. A big thank you for all of those that reviewed!  
  
New reviewers: Andrainjohn, The Informer, and Measse.  
  
I really appreciate those who supported me from the very start as well as those who are beginning to acknowledge and support this fanfic, and will be joining me for the long run (you didn't know it was long? Technically, I had 12 chapters. Too late to get off now, bwahahahaha). Although it's supposedly not so great and author like to insist on reviews (which I crave, if you didn't notice it yet), I still do it. The reason is that I want to know that people read my fic (rather than "Hmm. I just posted my fanfic on the internet- no! Don't you go and read it, bitch!), or else I wouldn't bother posting it online. It might not be noble, but reviews are things that I used to see any comments people feel about my fic as well as knowing how many people enjoy it.  
  
Another thing I noticed, my fanfic is under the major category Romance (and under the minor category Humor, if you search for Humor, you shouldn't be able to find this fic). I'll refrain from using some weird ass analogy, but seriously, I don't see an awful lot of romance. That's certainly not because of my gender, I tend to enjoy shounen-ai fics which most boys frown upon as well. But it's the story. Well. See. If I had lots of romance initially, this fic would turn out something like this:  
  
Taichi closed the door and eyed Sora.  
  
"Ne, Sora-chan?" Taichi casually asked. "Are you a lesbian?"  
  
Sora hastily closed her book and stood up. "You bet I am."  
  
Taichi and Sora then proceeded to suck on each other's neck.  
  
...Which is not so nice. There could be another version with the line "Do you like crossdressers?", but I won't go there. As a result, I'm restricted to how romantic things get at first. Of course, I'll try and insert a few innocent flirts to keep my romantic readers. What was my point? Ah, right. So if you were wondering why this fic is not very matching to its category currently, that's why.  
  
I should really give myself a rant corner so that I don't bottle up so much stuff. But some readers are here strictly to see Taichi go through a menstrual cycle, so maybe I shouldn't put one in. I don't know. You say, little annoying rant for every single chapter or big annoying rant for one in several chapters?  
  
Anyway, this chapter is an interlude. The reason being it's too disjointed to be an actual 'episode', and it doesn't really have a point (doesn't have a point? I think I just described my entire fanfic series). There will be several character interactions in this, and they do not all necessarily hint romance (or at least resulting romance), so please hold anything back in case you were going to go 'Why did you have x talk to y but not z? I thought you said this fic had a x/y coupling!'  
  
Interesting Digimon information of the week: Did you know that V-mon's seiyuu (voice-actor) in Japan is Noda Junko, who also voice acted for Konno Mitsune in Love Hina and Izawa Maho in Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou? (information taken from official Japanese Digimon 02 site)  
  
I'm sorry. I'll shut up now.  
  
Disclaimer: Digimon is not mine. Really.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Interlude: Kaeri Michi  
  
(in no reference to the Digimon couple Michi)  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"So how was class today, Tai-ch, er, Taichi-chan?" Sora asked, putting up her usual smile.  
  
"Bad. Total screw." Taichi replied angrily as he walked, stomping every step.  
  
Sora frowned and wrinkled her eyebrows against Taichi's rash and angry reply. However, she thought, this anger had quite fitted and summarized Taichi. Impulsive and irritable, yet Taichi radiated a sense of...counter- girlishness which made him rather cute, considering his appearance.  
  
"Why so?" Sora asked, following Taichi steps behind. Oddly, as they exited the school, Taichi had simply located where their dorm house was, and decided to walk straight through all the grass field, flowers, trees, fences, and walls rather than follow the paved road.  
  
"Kou, that bast-...bitch, she was basically flipping around in her bed all the freaking night, so I couldn't sleep. I could barely wake up this morning and live through the freaking day."  
  
"Kou-chan?"  
  
"Yeah. Hell, this is so damn annoying. I wouldn't call her by -chan if the bastard teachers at the school would get me in trouble if they heard me calling others without -chan. That's plain stupid and retarded. Did I tell you that?" Taichi stopped and looked over his shoulder to see Sora shrugging, then continued walking.  
  
"Anyway, I was saying, I nearly got through the entire day, and finally, we get to cooking, but that boring bitch just kept talking about nutritional values instead of letting us cook. I fell asleep without knowing it, and that bitch noticed me and just went and chuck this -son of a bitch- chalk at me, I was sleeping on the desk, so the chalk flew into my hair and now it's LODGED in there, I couldn't get it out now."  
  
Sora blinked as Taichi stomped onwards. She had been hanging around 'her' too much lately. If swear words served as nutrition, Sora would be quite overweight by now.  
  
Irritable indeed.  
  
"You could probably take a shower when you get back." Sora suggested loudly, hoping that Taichi would hear her in his outraged state. "That'll soften the hair, and you could probably get it out that way."  
  
"The chalk will colour my hair." Taichi grumbled.  
  
"Think of it as bleaching. White is kind of cool nowadays."  
  
"It's a yellow chalk."  
  
"Ah...umm. You could wash it off, after all."  
  
Sora put her hand on Taichi's shoulders and applied minor pressure to denote that she wanted him to stop.  
  
"What is it?" Taichi turned around, his face looking less angry, but rather, a bit guilty. Perhaps for shouting at Sora indirectly, perhaps for something else.  
  
"Look, you usually don't get this mad. I know that this is probably a hard time for you." Sora said understandingly, reaching her hand into her bag, then searching around.  
  
"A hard time?" Taichi repeated, puzzled.  
  
Sora took out a hand-sized, small tubular stick in plastic wrapping and placed it in Taichi's hands.  
  
"You know, it's that time of the month. You'll need this."  
  
Taichi blinked.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"You're a hacker?" Miyako asked the second time.  
  
"Yes." Koushiro nodded, rolling his eyes. He then regained his posture and walked, tapping his feet against the asphalt and staring at the blooming flowers.  
  
"Isn't that illegal?" Miyako uncomfortably questioned.  
  
"No, no." Koushiro shook his head. "Not a hacker in that way. Initially, hackers was a term that meant people that were good and frequently tampered with computers. I'm referring to that."  
  
"Although I DO do a bit of that other one." Koushiro said to himself, even though Miyako overheard.  
  
"Oh, I see. Didn't know that." Miyako sheepishly nodded.  
  
"You've never hacked?" Koushiro raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Not really." Miyako recalled. "I'm really good with computers compared to most other girls, but I don't hack. I did try it once."  
  
"What happened?"  
  
"Oh, it was horrible." Miyako made a disgusted face. "Whichever IP (1) I tried, that person made a window that popped up on my desktop and said to me...er...something like 'Hahaha, u r über n00b, I am 1337 hax0rz, I r0x0rz ur b0x0rz' (2), then my computer exploded. I vowed never to try hacking again. I didn't even wear boxers!"  
  
Koushiro winced. Sounded like one of the fun trips he took.  
  
"Well, I usually don't do it unless people piss me off. It's my way of dealing justice on the internet. I usually use a laptop to do things, so it's more difficult for some people to track me down, although not impossible."  
  
"You seem to know a lot about computers, Kou-chan." Miyako remarked, slightly impressed. "The most illegal thing I did once was download a 'warez'."  
  
Koushiro chuckled.  
  
"You don't need to download warez. If you have a good hexadecimal (4) editor and you know what you're doing, you can by pass any program protection."  
  
Miyako smirked. Most of what Koushiro did on computer was after all, not so legal.  
  
"Really? That's like tapping into the computer code."  
  
"Yeah. I'll teach you sometime if I have the time."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Takeru took slow gentle steps, making his sure that the heel of his shoe is just right in front of the toe of his other shoe, no more, no less.  
  
Hikari, on the other hand, walked normally, but slowly to 'keep up' with Takeru.  
  
Hikari smiled at Takeru, her expression comparable to the afternoon sun.  
  
Takeru smiled back, wanted to say something, but felt at a lack for words and didn't know what the hell to say.  
  
"So, how is your boyfriend?"  
  
Takeru bit himself. Thinking 'Don't let her start the topic next time. Talk. Talk about whatever. Talk about beavers, damn you.' Apparently, not fully mentally healthy.  
  
"Oh. Umm. He's nice." Takeru nodded. "So anyway..."  
  
"So, how is your relationship going?"  
  
//Dammit, why are girls so nosey?  
  
"Umm. It's going fine."  
  
"Wouldn't it be hard for you two, going to different schools and all?"  
  
Blink blink.  
  
"Umm...no, not at all."  
  
"How far are you two right now?"  
  
"Nowhere." Takeru paced a bit faster.  
  
Sensing his repeated discomfort, Hikari decided to cease the questioning.  
  
"So, have you decided on a club to join?" Hikari asked, momentarily after the silent pause.  
  
"The basketball team, I guess, if that counts." Takeru shrugged.  
  
"Sport clubs? Were you in a team before?"  
  
"Yeah. I was captain of the basketball team before." Takeru pressed himself to refrain from grinning.  
  
"Oh really? That's pretty good. How did your team do?"  
  
"We won against most other teams. During the semi-finals, though, we lost against the Kirote team. It was a close game."  
  
"..."  
  
"What's wrong?"  
  
"Isn't Kirote an all boys school?"  
  
Takeru's eyes reduced so small circles and his mouth expanded into a rectangle.  
  
"Er...er...!"  
  
Hikari stared at Takeru.  
  
"You know! I...um, cheerlead as well. So I was talking about cheerleading. Ahahaha."  
  
"You were talking about playing the actual basketball game."  
  
"Really? Really? I must have phased out!"  
  
"So you went against Kirote's cheerleading team?"  
  
"Hahaha. Yeah."  
  
"How did you win, then?"  
  
"Oh, you know, team spirit, the better we cheer the better we score, lala?" Takeru fidgeted.  
  
"So you lost against their...cheerleading?"  
  
"That's...right." Takeru wished that someone would come and bury him in a hole, provided that hole has a tunnel that leads elsewhere up ground.  
  
"But I thought Kirote was an all boys school."  
  
Takeru's hair is starting to float due to the constant shaking he is doing.  
  
"Oh. Er...yeah. We...um, went against their...er...male cheerleading team."  
  
Hikari winced.  
  
"And you still lost?"  
  
"...Yeah."  
  
"No offence, but I think you should just stick to basketball."  
  
"..."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"So what did you want to talk to us about, Koushiro?" Ken asked.  
  
"Umm." Koushiro suspiciously turned his head around in all directions, making sure that no one at all is around. They were standing under a tree, Koushiro had gathered Taichi (forcefully pulled here), Yamato (indifferently followed), Takeru (stood there like a statue while being pushed here), and Ken (who trailed Koushiro like the submissive little puppy he is) here for, quote, something 'important'. Although this was the open field, Koushiro claimed that this place was safer than back in the dorm house, where they are trapped with the girls.  
  
"You remember when Kei shipped us a box of cell phones?" Koushiro reminded.  
  
Nods.  
  
"Well, I figured. What, I mean, why, would he ship us cell phones? We already have this." Koushiro tapped by his ear, indicating the codec transmitter.  
  
"So I went down to our old school, and went to talk to Fugishima-sensei."  
  
"That crazy son of a bitch?!" Taichi shouted.  
  
"Geez, you don't have to be so pissed at him, Taichi. He only tried an experiment on you." Yamato tsked.  
  
"He tried to dissect me!"  
  
"He WAS going to clone you afterwards so it wouldn't matter."  
  
"Ahem" Koushiro coughed. "Anyway, remember that he had invested like lots of money on a ray machine? Which no one used at all? Well, I thought that if I shined the ray then look at the results, I might be able to see what was so special inside the cell phone without taking it apart. I tried to take it apart, but it's all tightly sealed."  
  
"And?" Ken anxiously asked.  
  
"I found that, according to my knowledge, the normal cell phone components only took up..." Koushiro reached into his pocket and pulled out a purple shiny cell, then pointed at the corner of it. "About one tenth of this cell phone. Alpha, beta, and gamma ray were also intercepted from this phone all at once."  
  
Blink.  
  
"What's the other nine tenths, then?" Takeru asked, confused. "And what's all those rays doing there?"  
  
"Good question. So, I went back home and experimented a bit." Koushiro pressed a long button combination, each press giving off a different tone of beep. "And I found out that it can do...this."  
  
Beep.  
  
A holographic rectangle popped up.  
  
"It's a hyperspace computer." Koushiro explained, as he dragged the hologram with his fingers.  
  
"It works in correspondence to all the other phones, and can track their positions." Koushiro moved his finger back and forth once slightly, then another window popped up, with five dots gathering in a map.  
  
Takeru side stepped, and watched in amusement as one of the dots moved with him, then stepped in another direction, and again.  
  
Koushiro pointed his finger at the moving dot, and another window popped.  
  
( Name: Takaishi Takeru  
  
Current status: Alive  
  
Relative position: 1.42 metres at 78 degrees East of South  
  
Current activities: Being a retard )  
  
"There's also advanced statistics, but I won't get into that." Koushiro touched the right corner of the very first window, causing all the holograms to disappear. "There are also lots more other functions, but I should probably ask Kei about that."  
  
"Holy shit..." Yamato's eyes nearly bulged.  
  
"That is sooo Minority Report(5)." Takeru commented.  
  
"Am I dreaming?" Ken wondered out loud.  
  
Slap.  
  
"Ow." Ken held his cheek in reaction to Taichi's bitchslap.  
  
"Can I give you another one?"  
  
"I'll think about it."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Vocal: Friends - Houshin Engi  
  
"Thanks." Yamato said without moving his lips too much. "This morning."  
  
Gabu looked up at Yamato as he slowly walked on four legs, closely beside Yamato.  
  
"You took my binder here today when I forgot it back in my room." Yamato casually said.  
  
"Ah, it was no big deal." Gabu muttered quietly.  
  
"You got the girls screaming and molesting you, though, when you came into the classroom." Yamato recalled.  
  
"They're making steak tonight." Gabu stated.  
  
"I'll try."  
  
"You seem pretty down lately." Gabu looked up at Yamato.  
  
"It's nothing."  
  
"It doesn't seem like nothing to me."  
  
"It doesn't concern you." Yamato said without looking down at Gabu.  
  
"Can I help?"  
  
"Can you write songs?"  
  
Gabu held his head down.  
  
Yamato patted Gabu's head.  
  
"I appreciate the thought."  
  
"Yamato-"  
  
"Yama-chaaaaaan!"  
  
Mimi speedily approached Yamato.  
  
"Woof, woof." Gabu quickly changed.  
  
Odd glance.  
  
"Aww. You poor thing, you can always talk to me if you need someone to talk to." Mimi comforted Yamato.  
  
Yamato looked away, embarrassed.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"You always seem so...boyish. Taichi-chan." Hikari observed.  
  
"Heh heh heh...really?" Taichi nervously laughed, his cold sweat hidden.  
  
"Yep. You dress like a boy, you talk like a boy, you act like a boy." Hikari held her chin as she listed. "You shouldn't act so tomboy-ish, or you'll never get a boyfriend!"  
  
//I. Don't. Want. One.  
  
Taichi continued to laugh idiotically.  
  
"You know, I haven't seen lots of people like you." Hikari noted. "Brown hair, brown eyes, just like me. Most people have black features."  
  
Taichi looked and carefully scanned Hikari's features.  
  
"Oh yeah. How odd. I rarely see people with brown features as well."  
  
"Maybe we're lost siblings?" Hikari joked.  
  
"Maybe." Taichi chuckled.  
  
"Then you'll be my onee-chan(6)." Hikari concluded in a sing-song voice.  
  
"And you'll be my imouto(6)."  
  
And they continued down the trail.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Oh. You've changed your hairclip." Takeru noted, pointing at his own head, showing the position he referred to.  
  
"Yeah." Hikari nodded. "I lost this one a few weeks ago, so I'm using it again, I found it under some of my clothes in the drawer yesterday."  
  
Takeru's eyes moved from Hikari's eyes to her forehead. It was a plain red clip.  
  
"That other one you had looked better on you." Takeru compared.  
  
"Maybe. I don't know. This one has more sentimental value, and I've worn it for a long time."  
  
"Sentimental value?" Takeru tilted his head.  
  
"Yeah. I don't remember a lot, but..." Hikari reached her hand up to touch the clip lightly. "I remember that a boy had given it to me when I was really small. Really small. I can't even remember who that boy was. But he was very sweet." Hikari smiled naturally.  
  
A boy.  
  
Takeru felt somewhat disturbed by that. He wasn't supposed to. It had been just a boy that had given her something when she was really small. Hell, she doesn't even remember him.  
  
"Oh, I see."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"...and it's almost been a month, and he hasn't even called me yet, not to apologize or anything!" Miyako threw a fit. A really big fit.  
  
"Maybe he had reasons..." Ken stuttered.  
  
"What reasons?! I just can't stand it. It pisses me of so much."  
  
Ken had then imagined the scenario where Miyako knew Ken was actually male and Ichijouji Ken, it had resulted in something about Ken's corpse being so utterly disfigured that they resorted to cremating.  
  
"You should just forget about it." Ken suggested mildly.  
  
"No! No! No!" Miyako swung her fist in the air.  
  
Perhaps comforting her with the face of (or being) Ichijouji didn't really help.  
  
"I'm sure better guys will come by." Ken continued, progressively walking at an angle so that he set a safer distance between.  
  
"Who are you kidding? I've seen plenty of guys, none of them are good!"  
  
"That's not true." Ken defended.  
  
"Umm. How about..." Ken pondered. "Takuma. From the café?"  
  
"He's gay."  
  
"Oh." Ken blinked. He has already begun to wonder if that statement was actually true, there being no dateable guys. Either way, Ichijouji Ken's reputation is already in the dumps.  
  
"Just...look harder. Maybe some guys aren't as they seem to be." Ken said so that he seemed optimistic, rather than trying to recover Miyako's impression of him.  
  
"Perhaps..."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Yamato sighed.  
  
Taichi watched as Yamato sighed, annoyed.  
  
"Dammit, stop sighing!" Taichi commanded.  
  
"Sorry, was I sighing again?" Yamato broke out of his pensiveness.  
  
"What's wrong?" Taichi asked.  
  
"You know, blah blah..."  
  
30 minutes later...  
  
".and so, blah blah blah."  
  
"Oh, I didn't know that." Taichi shook his head.  
  
"I didn't tell you, of course you didn't know." Yamato rolled his eyes.  
  
"Don't worry, you'll have plenty of time until summer to write the songs." Taichi insured.  
  
"Really?" Yamato stretched his arms. "I've come up with practically nothing right now. If I do the same for the rest of the month, I'd be screwed over."  
  
"Is signing NG really that important?"  
  
"It's not just important, it's almost essential. Nearly all bands under NG were successful, with the exception of ASK. Their management is good, they can spend lots of budget on advertisements, anything. It's just that Quatre look-alike is such a son of a bitch!"  
  
"Quatre look-alike?" Taichi raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Never mind." Yamato waved it off. "Anyway, my point is, it's now or never, I don't think I can wait one year and beg them to take in the Teenage Wolves."  
  
"This will be harsh on you. There's lots of chances that people from this school will go to the concert, you know?"  
  
"I know. It's alright, I guess. Sora and Mimi saw me once as Yamato, they didn't recognize the resemblance." Yamato recollected. "At least not with Yamako's cover story."  
  
"I guess you can get by that. But lots more people will go, that'll make lots of suspicions."  
  
"I know, but I can't worry about that right now, having songs to write before the deadline." Yamato sighed. Yet again. "Dammit! This will be so screwed up!"  
  
Taichi looked at Yamato in pity.  
  
"Here." Taichi took Yamato's open hand, and placed the contents of his own hand into Yamato's. "This might help."  
  
And Taichi ran off.  
  
Yamato stared at the tampon in his hand.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Koushiro adjusted the window, then hovered his finger over a dot.  
  
(Name: Ichijouji Ken  
  
Current status: Half-dead  
  
Relative position: 357.05 metres at 13 degrees west of north  
  
Current activities: Listening to Miyako complain)  
  
Koushiro chuckled, then moved his finger over two rapidly moving dots, which suddenly stopped upon contact..  
  
(Name: Yagami Taichi  
  
Current status: Near death  
  
Relative position: 213.73 metres at 43 degrees east of north  
  
Current activities: Choking)  
  
Koushiro blinked.  
  
(Name: Ishida Yamato  
  
Current status: Tired  
  
Relative position: 213 metres at 43 degrees east of south  
  
Current activities: Forcing a tampon down Taichi's throat)  
  
Koushiro trailed his finger to the last dot.  
  
(Name: Takaishi Takeru  
  
Current status: Fine  
  
Relative position: 0.3 metres at south  
  
Current activities: Peeking at what colour panties Koushiro is wearing today) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Tuduku.  
  
BGM: Aban02 - Digimon 02  
  
Koushiro: On the next episode of Boku/Ata, I twisted my ankle, and am forced to stay in the dormitory house with Mimi as everyone else goes to the mall. Again. Mimi attempts experiments on making ice cream. I am intimidated.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Points of interest:  
  
1) IP- Internet Protocol. Your 'internet identification', for that particular online login, anyway. It might subject to change the next time you go online depending on your internet type.  
  
2) Strange internet ghetto language thing. Translates to 'Hahaha, you are über (super (or something) in German) newbie, I am leet (elite) hacker, I rock your boxers"  
  
3) Warez- Illegal pirated full version programs available for download without paying the necessary fee for it.  
  
4) Hexadecimal- A number system with base 16, counts as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E, F, 10, 11,...1A, 1B, etc. A common system used in computer language.  
  
5) In the movie Minority Report, a certain computer can be accessed by motioning your hands to activate and use holographic windows.  
  
6) Onee-chan - older sister  
  
Imouto - younger sister  
  
Oi! That's that. I like how this is done, as I can simply set up situations without necessarily justifying for them. Did you like that kind of set up? I might do one or two other ones like this, but it won't be a large part. Anyway, review.  
  
-Lumi 


	14. Episode 5: Creamy Sweet

Boku-tachi/Atashi-tachi  
  
Hello again, everyone!  
  
As always, here's the list of new reviewers: SilverShadow, Azn Angel Hikari, Seraphim Ephyon, taiora lover, takeru-rocks, and Ri-Ri.  
  
I've thought about what I said yesterday about this fic being in the romance category. So I decided to cut Boku/Ata and start a new romance series. Either that or just write a sappier chapter (only by a bit!!). The latter seems to be easier, don't you think? ;) Anyway, no chatter this time. Okay. Maybe a bit.  
  
Er...reply to some reviews. Fine. No 's'.  
  
takeru-rocks: "...Does it sound OK to do a bit of Diasuke/ Taichi bashing when the guys are at the mall? (Just a suggestion!)"  
  
Lumi: Sorry. Well, I guess I would put them in humorous situations, but really, I have nothing against Taichi and Daisuke (even though they might not be my favourite characters), and I really don't feel a need to bash any characters, even the ones I don't like. But thank you for your input!  
  
Also, please don't hesitate to remark or ask anything at all. I'll try to reply it if it's reply-able. Of course, I won't answer any plot questions (such as "What will happen when you-know-how goes to you-know-where?"), if I answer them, I don't have an awful lot left to write now, do I? =) But you're still free to ask them, of course.  
  
You might have caught the extreme delay for this release (unless you were in a coma for three weeks or so). My excuses are: the ass era (two-week period in which one does a large amount of exams), writer's block, and the fact that I'm getting a bit moody and it doesn't really match this fic. So, there. I'll try to compensate during the Christmas break.  
  
Also, in places outside of school, even in the dorm house, the '-chan' suffix is no longer a requirement when they talk.  
  
(Try to) Enjoy this chapter.  
  
Interesting Digimon Information of the week: Patamon's seiyuu also starred as Mihara Chiharu in Card Captor Sakura (Japanese version).  
  
Disclaimer: If Digimon was mine, I'd have made this into an anime. W00t! But it's not mine, the point is.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Episode 4: Creamy Sweet  
  
(By the counter-creativeness and sappiness, you can tell that I came up with this title.)  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
April 28, 2002 -1:04 p.m. (T'was)  
  
"Koooooooou!" Taichi crashed through the door. "-chan!"  
  
Taichi has become increasingly annoying, Koushiro thought. Never had it occurred that there is someone worse than Taichi, but she-Taichi does sum it up pretty well.  
  
Taichi smiled sinisterly, looking at the large semi-spherical lump of blanket on Koushiro's bed. Koushiro cringed, even without seeing Taichi.  
  
"If I'm going to hell," Taichi grabbed the top edge of the plain blanket. "You're coming with me!"  
  
Taichi pulled the blanket fiercely.  
  
To reveal a giant teddy bear that had been hidden beneath.  
  
"Shit! He escaped!" Taichi muttered as he ran out the door again.  
  
One step, two step.  
  
Sixty decibels, forty decibels.  
  
Deciding it's safe, Koushiro unzipped the teddy from inside and struggled out of it, making the costume disguise flatten.  
  
"Taichi is like some kind of sadistic hunter, always picking on me." Koushiro scratched his head.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Ken opened the incompletely closed door and faced a vacant, clean room.  
  
"Kou-san?" Ken called out, pacing back and forth in the room, hoping to find Koushiro. But how could it be that Koushiro had hidden himself in this room without being painfully obvious? Unless, of course, Taichi had slaughtered Koushiro, then had separated Koushiro's body into six parts, certainly, being the mid section, four limbs, and the head. That would explain Taichi's frantic running out of the room.  
  
"Looks like he's not here."  
  
Slam.  
  
Koushiro tucked his head out from beneath the bed.  
  
To stare Ken in the face.  
  
Koushiro's face remained in a half laugh expression, a sheepish one, in reaction with his inability to explain the situations.  
  
"Kou-san..." Ken said softly, almost giving in to Koushiro's efforts. "You have to get dressed. We have to go to the mall now."  
  
"No!" Koushiro screamed hysterically. "This is crazy! We're going to the mall, like, 100 times a week! I can't take this anymore!"  
  
"Actually, that's not possible. Provided if we don't eat or sleep, and with the two hour round trip, and without actually spending more than a minute in the mall, we would only be able to get around..." Ken looked up, parts of his iris covered by his eyelid. "About say, 84 times, if forced."  
  
"I was exaggerating!" Koushiro angrily exclaimed. "It's all because of you, you and Takeru, that now we're getting dragged along everytime THOSE girls go to the mall, if you had not go in the first place, then we would-"  
  
Ken covered Koushiro's mouth. "Shh! Don't say Take-chan's name so loud in here. Plus, I know, I already apologized. Please, Kou-san, bear with us!"  
  
Taichi opened the door, met with a scene of Ken kneeling, his head down in order to face Koushiro's, which was sticking out of the bottom of the bed, Ken's face full of apologetic and met difficulty, and Koushiro's, in utter frustration.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Taichi, you idiot. Now you can't force Koushiro to go!" Yamato whispered to Taichi, pointing at the red and swollen ankle of Koushiro's.  
  
"I didn't do it!" Taichi argued. "He was so scared that he quickly ran and tripped himself."  
  
Koushiro looked away in embarrassment.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Okay, we're ready to go, then. Kou-chan can rest." Miyako announced.  
  
"Where's Mimi-chan?" Takeru stood on his toes to see if Mimi was behind any of the girls. Improbable, he corrected himself, Mimi is easily the tallest of the four.  
  
"She said that she spent too much at the mall, she needs to restrain herself so that she doesn't have to ask for food in the streets." Hikari replied while adjusting her hairclip by touch.  
  
"Of course," Sora added. "She spends over 5000 yen every single time we go to the mall."  
  
Blinks.  
  
"Alright, let's go already." Miyako complained at the tardiness.  
  
Gabu remained sitting, and stared with wet eyes.  
  
"Alright, Gabu, you can come too." Sora patted Gabu's head.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Just my luck." Koushiro whispered to himself. "Oh well. At least I get to stay home."  
  
Yawn.  
  
Koushiro laid down on his pillow and covered himself with the blanket, parts of him unknowingly pressing on the teddy costume.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
3:36 p.m.  
  
Rubbing his tired eyes, Koushiro decidedly moved, although slowly, out of the bed. His wig was in a mess, and his clothes were not all that great. However, it didn't matter to him.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Walking randomly around, Koushiro heard a clatter. Nearby.  
  
Carefully trailing the source of sound, Koushiro arrived at the doorway to the kitchen.  
  
//Who is it...?  
  
Blink.  
  
//Mimi, why is she here?  
  
Koushiro glanced at his watch.  
  
//No, I didn't sleep a day and few hours...no matter.  
  
Koushiro brushed his hand over his hair and his chest, confirming the existence of the artificial articles.  
  
//Equipment check: Okay.  
  
Koushiro continued to stare silently at the doorway.  
  
Mimi was...doing something. Apparently something, lots of cartons, bowls, wooden spoons, and a mixer was out and crowded on the little kitchen table. She was also wearing a little pink apron. Oh, the infinite clues.  
  
Wrinkling her brows, Mimi picked up a big thick book. Koushiro squinted. A book in English. 'Ice Cream that Knocks 'em Dead'. Charming.  
  
"So, milk in here..." Mimi said as she poured the milk into the bowl. "Sugar, flavouring as well..." Mimi rashly dumped the contents in along with the bowl of milk, and started to gently spin the wooden spoon around in the bowl.  
  
"Huh." Mimi voiced, and picked up the book for another look.  
  
"Oops. It's supposed to be 250 mL, not 450." Mimi placed a hand over her mouth.  
  
And poured the contents of the bowl back into the milk carton.  
  
Koushiro watched in horror and disbelief.  
  
"Now, let's see, what's next..."  
  
Koushiro spun around so that his back faces the wall, invisible to Mimi in the case she turns around.  
  
//Crazy! She's crazy! This is like some sort of biological experiment!  
  
Koushiro took a deep breath and shut his eyes.  
  
Then opened them.  
  
"Hi." Mimi happily waved, inches in front of him.  
  
"Ack!" Koushiro jumped. "Uh...hi!"  
  
"Oh, I was just going to check up on you, and you're all awake already." Mimi laughed slightly.  
  
Koushiro, upon clearing his mind, looked at Mimi again. He felt strangely...attracted. Two sides of his mind began to duke it out.  
  
The left side said that Mimi, dressed in that pink apron, which matched perfectly with her hair, since it's pink and all, with her light (predictably) pink nails, white shorts, and a sleeveless shirt of unknown colour (the apron wrapped around Mimi's front half, certainly, Koushiro hoped that it wouldn't be 'no shirt'), radiated pure cuteness, and in front of pure cuteness, resistance shouldn't be applied.  
  
The right side said that Mimi, pouring mixtures back into milk cartons, is evil. Who in their right mind would pour them back in a milk carton, which someone will drink the contents of, unless they want to kill somebody? That's right, she wants to kill YOU. The cuteness is a disguise for evil.  
  
The left side argued that she is clumsy. And that's cute too.  
  
Koushiro generally agreed.  
  
But oddly, he felt a forgotten inhibition that disallowed him to get really friendly with Mimi.  
  
"But my, you're being really casual." Mimi frowned. "Go get changed, girls shouldn't dress so casually."  
  
//'Girls'. Right.  
  
"Now, now, you go get changed. There'll be a treat for you later."  
  
//Treat. Right. Which windows could I escape through?  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Koushiro sighed (yet again). He pulled the waist of his pants, noting that it doesn't really reach far from his stomach before snapping back. Some girl clothes just aren't comfortable.  
  
Koushiro walked out of his room, then dragged his feet down to the kitchen.  
  
Koushiro squinted.  
  
The kitchen has been dressed in white, as is Mimi. Milk, some white powder, all sorts of oddities. It was so evenly spread that Koushiro could only reason out two possibilities: one of them being that Mimi intentionally spread milk and sugar/something all over the kitchen evenly in the time, or that she had made a bomb with the ingredients then proceeded to blow it up. Either way, Koushiro felt unsafe, insecure. Cute, probably, he thought. But that is a horrible witch woman.  
  
A turn of head.  
  
Koushiro twitched. He has been spotted.  
  
"Ah, Kou-chan. There you are. Do you think you could just give me some teeny bit of help?"  
  
A reluctant nod.  
  
"We're making ice cream!"  
  
Cautiously, Koushiro walked in the kitchen with slow and heavy steps.  
  
"Oh, do be careful. I, umm...accidentally spilt things, so...um. Yeah." Mimi pointed to the ground, embarrassed.  
  
A glance to the ceilings and walls.  
  
//Huh. God must've been so nice to create gravitational pull from all directions when she spilt it.  
  
"But don't worry, I'll clean it up."  
  
Certainly, Koushiro was not going to.  
  
Mimi slowly whipped the mixture.  
  
"Could you hand me the flavouring?" Mimi requested.  
  
Koushiro looked around the counter behind him, and took the small bottle of strange black liquid.  
  
"This one?"  
  
"That's soy sauce, isn't it?"  
  
"Oh...um. This one?"  
  
"Ah. Thanks."  
  
Koushiro's hand slightly touched Mimi's.  
  
Drop.  
  
Catch.  
  
"Phew, be careful there." Mimi let out a breath as she brought up her other hand, which reflexively caught the bottle.  
  
Koushiro stared at his hand, the one that was going to hand Mimi the bottle. Apparently, her second hand had caught the bottle, but her first hand, rather than simply touching, is now holding his own tightly.  
  
Blush.  
  
Koushiro quickly shook her hand off.  
  
He wasn't so sure why he was so embarrassed. Maybe it was because he was holding hands with a girl. Maybe it was purely the act of holding hands. That was probably it; he couldn't recall any time that he had held hands with a guy.  
  
"Oh, sorry." Mimi apologized as she brought the bottle to her bowl, oblivious to Koushiro's heated face.  
  
//What the hell was that? Why was she holding my hand there? Oh my god, could she have found out that I am actually a boy and Q@$T#@Y@#^R#G#@G?!?!@?!?@!?@  
  
One side of Koushiro's brain remained calm as the other flustered. Koushiro wasn't quite sure how that worked.  
  
\\It was a reflexive action, as she caught the bottle, all her other muscles tensed up, causing her hand, which was close to yours, to close up, and therefore, resulting in her grabbing your hand.  
  
//Oh. I see. So it's a coincidence. Wait, but what if it's not?! What then? Will she figure me out? Torture me? !@#^%@$^#!Y$!#@Y~??!~  
  
\\Oh, to hell with you.  
  
Koushiro watched as Mimi poured in the liquid into the mixture, and as the mixture got smoother, her hand whipped faster, as well as 70% of the mixture flying out of the bowl, but Koushiro managed to be resistant to further shock.  
  
"Phew." Mimi slightly wiped her face with the back of her hand. "I'm tired, can you whip for me?"  
  
"Huh? Sure."  
  
Koushiro suddenly questioned how, exactly, did the relationship between Mimi and him began to be more friendly rather than of strangers. After all, they were only roommates, and not ones of long periods of time either.  
  
"Thank you." Mimi smiled as a sign of gratitude.  
  
Koushiro melted.  
  
And woke up back again when he felt a need to intake more oxygen.  
  
Mimi walked aside, shaking out her right hand, attempting to rid herself of the fatigue as Koushiro replaced her position and indifferently took the whisk to stir the mixture round and round again.  
  
Whip.  
  
Whip.  
  
Whip.  
  
Whip.  
  
Despite the how apparently even the white mixture seems, he could still feel small sugar crystals in the mixture, and continued. Especially in small things like these, imperfection pissed him off.  
  
And flinched, feeling a breath at his ear.  
  
Mimi had stood behind him to watch, since she is unable to watch from anywhere else, due to the smallness of the counter.  
  
Koushiro's hand moved at a higher frequency.  
  
His heart beated wildly to match his hand.  
  
If the natural death cycle were to be counted in heartbeats, Koushiro would die really, really soon.  
  
"You don't need to whip it that fast, see." Mimi slightly stepped a bit forward, closer to Koushiro and pointed in the bowl. "Just make sure that it's thick enough so when you pull up the whisk, there's a trail..."  
  
As Mimi had moved in a step, Koushiro felt *another* clue on his backside that proved that Mimi, and in fact, at least a girl, was standing behind him.  
  
Koushiro whipped the mixture everywhere promptly before he passed out.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Kou-chan, wake up. Are you alright, Kou-chan?"  
  
A bit of light.  
  
Koushiro opened the rest of his eye lids.  
  
He was lying on the couch in the living room, which is connected to the kitchen (she had carried me from the kitchen to here? That crazy monster woman!).  
  
"Oh good, you're okay."  
  
Koushiro looked at his hands.  
  
His right hand seemed to have held a cylinder object.  
  
His left hand seemed to be supporting something.  
  
Click.  
  
"Oh...sorry. I screwed up your ice cream again..." Koushiro nervously apologized.  
  
"That's okay." Mimi reassured. "I caught it before it fell."  
  
"Ah, that's good."  
  
Koushiro looked at Mimi, who was staring back at him. Not exactly at his eyes. Slightly lower.  
  
"I think you got some of that right there..." Mimi reached a finger onto Koushiro's face, and wiped a small dot of white off his face, then lightly licked it off her finger.  
  
Koushiro's mouth foamed as he fell unconscious again.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Don't get carried away. Ah.  
  
Ah?  
  
Yes. Ah.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Ah..." Koushiro moaned.  
  
His eyelids opened up, and light cruelly invaded his iris.  
  
Mimi.  
  
Mimi is in the kitchen.  
  
Mimi's backside.  
  
Her *butt* is very noticeable.  
  
Koushiro gulped and choked, and coughed.  
  
"Oh." Mimi glanced over her shoulders, and swiftly pushed a container into the refrigerator and sped towards Koushiro.  
  
Mimi unnaturally walked, out of her way, to behind the couch and looked over the rested Koushiro.  
  
"Are you okay?" Mimi wrinkled her brows, expressing obvious concern.  
  
"Uh. Yeah." Koushiro replied, forcing a casual voice.  
  
"Are you sure? This is like, the second time you fainted."  
  
"It's...um, a condition." Koushiro nodded.  
  
"What condition?" Mimi curiously continued.  
  
//What condition? Umm. Mixing things in a bowl. No. What kind of idiot faints from mixing? Er...  
  
Mimi continues to stare at Koushiro, waiting for a delayed answer.  
  
"I believe that a certain spectrum of ray may have caused disturbance to the hypothalamus and resulted in positron particles..."  
  
Blink.  
  
"Okay." Mimi interrupted; obviously not wanting to hear whatever else is after that.  
  
A mixture of various uncommon terminologies has yet again saved Koushiro's ass.  
  
Slowly, Koushiro sat up, but remained on the couch.  
  
"So...um."  
  
Blink blink.  
  
Glance glance.  
  
Cough cough.  
  
"Er, how is the ice cream doing?" Koushiro semi-enthusiastically asked. He knew it wasn't the brightest question, but he was desperate to rid of the awkward silence.  
  
"Ah." Mimi clapped her hands together, but did not follow it with anything else, as if promptly forgotten what exactly she did with it.  
  
"Yes, I put the mixture in the refrigerator. I'll need a couple hours or so." Mimi quickly blurted out, afraid that she'll forget it again.  
  
"Oh, a couple hours." Koushiro repeated, trying to grasp any significance in those words.  
  
"Yep. A couple hours." Mimi stretched both her hands upwards. "It's not like Sora and them will come back any time soon. I guess we can do something together in the meanwhile."  
  
"Do something together?"  
  
Koushiro waited for any objections from inside his head.  
  
Nothing.  
  
Thinking was now too tiring for Koushiro, he would rather take the path of lesser resistance.  
  
"Sure, I guess." Koushiro agreed.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"I can't believe you tricked that guy so badly!" Taichi laughed as he opened the door, and nearly stumbled from his laughter.  
  
Miyako giggled a bit, recalling what happened.  
  
Yamato just shook his head and took a sip of coke from the paper cup he held.  
  
And in there, the living room, in front of the entrance.  
  
Koushiro, his hair clipped, the leg of his pants slightly lifted, with his nails, of both fingers and toes, painted and glittery, spoon feeding Mimi with ice cream, and quickly pulling his hand away to prevent Mimi eating it; making it more of a competitive game than anything else.  
  
And of course, Mimi's status mirrored Koushiro's. But certainly, to everyone aside from Sora, Miyako, and Hikari, that was not as surprising as Koushiro.  
  
Yamato sprayed.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
April 29, 2002 (8:40 a.m.)  
  
"And...Mizui Koushiko is absent today." Ms. Touda announced, although saying it more for herself. "Diarrhoea."  
  
Taichi and Yamato exchanged glances.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
3:20 p.m.  
  
"Don't you think Kou is acting a bit weird lately?" Taichi asked Yamato in a low voice, and twitched to look behind him, making sure that no one else is there.  
  
"Yeah. A bit. I'm thinking about yesterday." Yamato leaned on to the kitchen counter.  
  
"Do you think that girl...er...Mimi?" Taichi lightly tapped his forehead with his fingers.  
  
"That pink haired girl? Yes, Mimi." Yamato confirmed.  
  
"Do you think she and Kou...are, you know." Taichi looked at Yamato and felt for the handle to the refrigerator, which he pulled to open.  
  
"No way." Yamato shook his head. "That's impossible."  
  
"But, let's just say. What if?" Taichi took his eyes away from Yamato to look inside the refrigerator, pushing items inside aside to reveal others.  
  
"Well. If so...then, well. No." Yamato pushed the thought aside. "Kou is smarter than that."  
  
Taichi grabbed a rectangular white milk carton in one hand, and a glass cup in another, and poured the contents of the carton into the cup.  
  
"Let's hope that's so."  
  
Taichi's lower lip contacted the cup as he lifted the cup up to drink.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
We're not sure what happened. Perhaps we took this matter too lightly, perhaps it was something else. Slowly and unknowingly, our emotions had become the greater influence and we had pushed ourselves onto a road which we can't even look back to see our starting point.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Migaya Taiko...absent." The teacher looked at the piece of paper with little writing that doesn't fill half the page. "Due to diarrhoea."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Tuduku.  
  
BGM: Aban 02 - Digimon 02  
  
Next Episode:  
  
No next episode preview available due to the indecisiveness of the author in choosing which episodic idea to use.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Well, I'm really really sorry for the really long delay. And this isn't especially long either. But I hope you enjoyed it.  
  
Until the next post, ja.  
  
-Lumi 


	15. Episode 6: Ano hi: In Takeru's life

Boku-tachi/Atashi-tachi  
  
Hello everyone. Okay, first, I suspect that this fic will be a little late. Because, you know. Mood swings, and all (Lumi is using that excuse again. Lumi must be destroyed.) There's also a project and a few tests, you know. The pre-Christmas rush. But anyway.  
  
So, it was finally the Christmas break, then my mom starts getting all sensitive about my sleeping time (my inspirational period is after midnight) and my sister uses the computer when I'm writing for hours. The amount of stuff I get done really pisses me off. Etc, etc. /excuses  
  
Firstly, acknowledgement of new reviewers: Fox.of.Many.Faces, Catchan, MoMo- ChAn, The digital duo, artis, and hulkgameedge@hotmail.com (I'm sorry, I can't e-mail you when the new chapter comes out. ^_^;;) .  
  
Also an apology to Azn Angel Hikari, I'm sorry. I usually only recognize people by alias, but not their account number or e-mail account. Oh well, at least now I know.  
  
And to reply to some reviews:  
  
Sunshine Anderson: ...Earlier in this chapter, you started talking about decibels, what are they?  
  
Lumi: Well. Decibels are a unit of sound intensity. Basically, a unit of how loud things are. Hope that cleared things up for ya.  
  
taiora lover: ...isnt it ironic how mimi JUST CANT COOK when in the end of the season she hosts a cooking show???  
  
Lumi: Yep. I guess. But you know what they say, practice makes perfect (which, really, I don't believe), so probably Mimi worked really hard at it. Not to mention that this is AU, so the ending doesn't really have to apply. Plus, the 02 ending sucks anyway, so it's not real. =)  
  
And of course, a thanks to all the compliments from our fellow reviewers. Thank you, thank you.  
  
Just want to tell you about this chapter: this title is used for times where the chapter is based on a normal day (normal in the Boku/Ata sense), and I may use it multiple times for various chapters that focuses on no point at all. These are usually quite light-hearted, and might or might not have as many jokes.  
  
I also managed to find a way to put italics and all that fancy crap in here, so I think I'll try it this chapter.  
  
And, and, Christmas is also coming. I did say that I'll try to sneak in some extra chapters between the weeks, I'll do that. But to be more celebrative, because we're all Christmas people (except those that aren't), I want to write a one-shot fic for Christmas. Now, as indecisive as I am, I can't choose a couple. When you review (and I urge that you should and must for this chapter, because of this), please state what kind of coupling you would want and in what, generally, what situation this fic is placed in (it should be Christmas related, of course). I'll probably take the coupling that a majority has chosen and find a really good situation that a review has stated; because it's not likely people will think of the same situation, making it impossible to poll. The couplings should be pretty easy to have multiple reviewers requested, since I think we're all mainsteam people. Probably nothing strange like Taichi/Miyako, or Sora/Mugendramon. Please do put a distinguishable name when you review, or else I might not count it. Now go review and vote. =)  
  
Disclaimer: Digimon isn't mine. No, I'm not lying. Stop looking at me weird.  
  
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Episode 6: Ano hi... (In Takeru's life...)  
  
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Takeru looked up at Mrs. Chidoki, who was handing out the quiz papers. She looked back with a disapproving look. Takeru was laying his head onto his arms, quite obviously tired, since he isn't responding much, and it's the start of a quiz. Her look seemed to say Oh my, you haven't studied again, now if only you would study. It doesn't take a whole much of your time, just take about 15 minutes or so. I'm sure you're a bright young girl, now if only you could review some of the contents before the quiz. But probably, instead, you're out hanging out with your friends, youngsters these days.  
  
Of course, that look of Mrs. Chidoki's also contained a several dozen other essays relating to the same topic, but Takeru chose to ignore.  
  
A glance at the paper.  
  
//Oh fuck. Moles. What the hell are moles? I remember she mentioning them last day, but I only recall that she had made some really horrible joke about it not being the English word that corresponds to that little animal that digs underground...  
  
Takeru started to quietly mumble to himself. Or so people thought.  
  
[(Takeru - Kei) Hey.]  
  
[Morning.]  
  
[What are moles?]  
  
[Moles are units that measure substances.]  
  
[Umm. Sure. What do you do with them?]  
  
[Huh. Good question. What DO you do with them?]  
  
[Dammit. Connect me to Yamato.]  
  
Yamato, who was sitting two rows in front of Takeru (the teacher had arranged seats by last name), looked back over his shoulder at Takeru, seeming to say 'What the hell?', then quickly turned his head again so that he wouldn't get failed for looking around.  
  
[(Takeru - Yamato) What do you do with moles?]  
  
[You convert them into mass. Or atoms. You know, all that fun stuff.]  
  
[How do I go upon doing that?]  
  
[You know. Do that thing with the unitary rates.]  
  
[Oh! That thing where one number goes on top of another number without doing the jiggy thing.]  
  
[Umm. Sure.]  
  
[So, number two would be...C, wouldn't it, nii-...er...nee-san?]  
  
[No. It's B.]  
  
[No way. I calculated it, and that's what I got.]  
  
[What do you think I did? Wish to god that he would shoot a correct answer into my head?]  
  
[But, see, in this part here...]  
  
15 minutes later...  
  
"Okay. Hand your quizzes in." Mrs. Chidoki raised her voice to the class, at which students quickly stood up and placed papers on to her desk.  
  
Yamato and Takeru froze.  
  
Takeru looked down at his paper.  
  
The name is there.  
  
The date is there.  
  
The first question is done.  
  
Other than that, the paper is perfectly reusable. Not to mention blank.  
  
They had been arguing about number 2 for the whole time.  
  
Shades of dark appeared on the forehead of the siblings.  
  
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"Are you okay?" Hikari asked Takeru as they were talking out of class. The period was over. "You look a bit...I don't know."  
  
"Dead?" Takeru suggested, his eyes glued stationary.  
  
"Yeah. Kind of." Hikari continued to try to read Takeru's face, lifeless and indifferent.  
  
"Oh good. I don't want to look like anything else." Grumbled Takeru as he continued down the hall.  
  
Hikari bit her lip for, mainly, facing Takeru's very very grumpy, for a lack of a better word, grumpiness.  
  
"What's wrong?" Hikari took a step out faster than Takeru, and jumped in front of him, trying to suspend him from movement. Takeru, of course, took a slightly angular turn and simply walked past Hikari.  
  
Hikari stared upwards, slightly peeved of being silently snapped at.  
  
"Today's quiz." Takeru started. "I failed."  
  
Hikari nodded pensively.  
  
"That's okay." Hikari comforted. "Marks aren't that important anyway."  
  
As far as Takeru recall, Hikari got perfect on every assignment and test given, in the classes he had with her anyway. Except for that last last quiz in Japanese.  
  
Where she got 110%. Anyway.  
  
Takeru immediately stopped walking, the rubber portions of his running shoes squeaking as they caused friction against the hard floor.  
  
"Really?"  
  
Hikari gave a really apologetic look.  
  
"Not really..."  
  
Takeru continued to storm on through the hallway. Those in his way were quickly launched to the wall to dent it, or to be stuck on it for the purpose of being a dartboard.  
  
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Takeru turned the dial to his lock.  
  
Twenty-six. Forty-eight.  
  
Thirty-two.  
  
Pull.  
  
Takeru found his pull to be stopped by the lock not budging at all.  
  
Deep breath.  
  
Takeru tried the combination again.  
  
To find that the lock had not did whatever it was supposed to do to unlock the thing.  
  
Takeru then proceeded to beat the crap out of the lock.  
  
A tap on the shoulders.  
  
"What is it?" Takeru snapped, turning vigorously.  
  
"That's...um. My locker."  
  
Embarassed, Takeru stepped away from the item he performed sadistic acts from, crossed between angry and sorry.  
  
"That's okay..." Hikari replaced Takeru's position, and calmly turned the dial.  
  
Takeru felt truly angry. Partly angry at himself, but more at circumstances. If it weren't for the circumstances, he wouldn't have to act like such a tard.  
  
Takeru glanced at the school clock, hanging strongly on the wall. There's still time. Takeru left abruptly to the washroom.  
  
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Takeru looked around. The girls' washroom was not large at all; there was no one in it.  
  
Despite his identity being relatively safe, Takeru still felt that it's rather risky to go to the bathroom of girls, since the only other bathroom available is the male employee's bathroom. It's not like there weren't doors or anything, and it wasn't like that people share stalls, but Takeru feel that accidents could happen very easily. Also, after all, it uwas/u the girl's bathroom, if he suddenly died of blood loss while overhearing or accidentally seeing something, they would have to send him to the hospital, even though he's dead, and if inquiries pop up, the doctor uwould/u say that he's a guy. That's no good. Even though he might be dead.  
  
Takeru stretched his head out the stall to insure that no one is there, then closed the door and locked it.  
  
Sounds of a stream hitting a pool of water.  
  
Door opens.  
  
Takeru frets.  
  
A bunch, Takeru is not sure of how many, but a lot, of girls suddenly rushed in, probably because they like to go to washroom in mobs or something.  
  
Takeru looks at himself. He's still going at it. He's also in the standard 'man' position.  
  
Quickly, adjacent stalls are occupied, and it seems that many girls are still left waiting for stalls.  
  
Knock knock.  
  
"Hello, is someone in there?" A girl asks.  
  
Takeru opened his mouth for a reply, but found no voice to do so. Probably due to the terror he's experiencing.  
  
"Just take a peek under the door to see if anyone's there." A deeper voice suggested.  
  
Takeru is so butchered if they see heels facing them, and not toes.  
  
//Argh! Hurry up, hurry up! How much water DID I drink?  
  
"Oh, I guess." The girl crouches down and bends her head sideways to see low enough.  
  
"Huh." The girl stands back up.  
  
"What's wrong?"  
  
"...There's...no one in there."  
  
Takeru presses the walls of his stall heavily for balance. His feet are up on the rim of the toilet.  
  
//Almost done, almost!  
  
Flush.  
  
"Sorry for keeping you." Takeru walked out of the stall, laughing sheepishly.  
  
"Eh?" The girl immediate before the stall looked at Takeru, then back in the stall. "There wasn't anyone here when I looked!"  
  
"Oh..you probably just didn't see my legs..." Takeru's eyes well up, horrified for having to say such an embarrassing excuse. "I...have... to lift my legs when I go pee, or else I can't go."  
  
The bunch of girls before the stalls looked at each other strangely, seeming to believe 'Takeko''s story, and seeming to say that 'Takeko' is a freak.  
  
"So..umm, enjoy!" Takeru slid-stepped to the side, allowing others to go in.  
  
The girl, the one that looked under the door, walked into the stall casually.  
  
Takeru peeked over her shoulder, afraid that there is some evidence that he had missed and left in there. He couldn't think of any, after all, it's not quite possible to leave an essential portion of his anatomy in there.  
  
"What?" The girl turned around again, curious at Takeru's stares.  
  
"Nothing."  
  
Dash.  
  
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Sweating, Takeru ran into the Japanese classroom.  
  
Only was it a split-second after that the bell sounded.  
  
Takeru found out that, even without mistakening someone's locker for his own, a sadistic beating still had to take place.  
  
"Take a seat." Ms. Kamiya warmly ordered.  
  
Takeru found it amazing for someone to say that without any slight harshness.  
  
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Everyone laughed.  
  
Takeru simply chuckled.  
  
The joke, or rather, humorous coincidence, was not very funny itself. The mood of the classroom, of the class, however, helped push that joke to be funnier than it is.  
  
Takeru, on the other hand, wasn't very in the mood. Although he did find his emotions to be fairly lightened up.  
  
He carefully listened to all the spoken words. But to him, they are, after all, just words, nothing more. Words without meaning. A series of sounds. A series of sounds that he found him self lulled by.  
  
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Vocal: Sepia no hi - Card Captor Sakura  
  
"..."  
  
Takeru looked. Where is this?  
  
Quiet wind bells.  
  
A soft breeze.  
  
The silent sun.  
  
Takeru ran. He ran through the tall green, cool grass. Each time he crossed a row, drops of water from the grass stuck to his clothes. His bare feet repeatedly stepped on the soft, but solid soil.  
  
Where was he running to? He was not sure.  
  
Each sensation tingled his tender skin, and marks of nature remained on his body.  
  
He tripped and fell.  
  
And he stared at the shallow lake immediate from his face.  
  
Was this here before? He wasn't sure. He would've noticed it if it was. Right? Was it?  
  
Takeru drowned his head within the crystal water and pulled out again; beads and chains of water flew in a graceful string. He watched at the still water reflected his image.  
  
Large, bright green eyes.  
  
A round, short face.  
  
A very tiny, but slightly sharp nose.  
  
And his even smaller mouth, his lips flattened by each other.  
  
A drop of water falls from the bang hanging in front of his eye into the lake water, causing waves to flow through the lake.  
  
Takeru looked at his hands.  
  
Short chubby fingers, connected to his arm of straight lining. Lacking signs of any explicit muscles.  
  
He stood up and stared down at his feet.  
  
His toes were also short and stubby, his feet so very small. Like his arm, his legs doesn't show any indications of development.  
  
Purity perfection.  
  
He was young.  
  
Takeru held his face in his hands. It was different than he remembered.  
  
He tried to recall. He couldn't remember. He couldn't remember how he looked like, he couldn't remember anything before. The more he pondered, the more right he felt. This was exactly him. Nobody else.  
  
He pulled the leg of his shorts even further up; it was at his knee.  
  
He suddenly felt a light fabric hug around his head. He reached for it and pulled it off.  
  
A white hat.  
  
An innocent giggle.  
  
Takeru looked in front of him. A small brown haired girl in a white robe.  
  
She smiled at him.  
  
She spoke.  
  
Takeru listened. Words came out of her mouth. Takeru could hear none of them.  
  
The ticking of her tongue.  
  
The whistle from the air she exhaled.  
  
She put a finger on Takeru's face, and slowly trailed in strange patterns.  
  
She held out her hand.  
  
He took it.  
  
They ran.  
  
She laughed.  
  
She laughed.  
  
Her laughter starts to dissolve as a part of another laughter.  
  
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Takeru opened his eyes. They were laughing, still.  
  
The class was the same when he returned as he had left it, still exploiting points of interest then laughing at whatever jokes that came up. Apparently, there were a lot.  
  
Reaching into his back pocket, Takeru pulled out his cell, and held it below the desk.  
  
11:46 a.m., the cellular illuminated.  
  
Takeru returned his phone. Half an hour has passed, although everything seemed to have been the exact same.  
  
Yamato, who was sitting in front of Takeru, turned around, and let out a little grin, as if mocking him for napping or something.  
  
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Takeru winced. He worriedly glanced at everyone that chuckled at him as they pass by him in the hallway.  
  
//What's with these people? Is it so obvious that I slept in class?  
  
Takeru paced faster to his locker, hoping that the humiliation would end when he reaches it. He's not sure why, if it did, that it would, but he would be thankful.  
  
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Takeru held a hand out against his locker for support as he leaned. He felt like he was chased. Chased didn't really seem like the correct way of phrasing it, since the people he escaped from came in the direction he was running. All those murmurs and laughs made Takeru very nerve-wrecked. And he doesn't know why.  
  
Hikari walks away.  
  
//What was that?  
  
Perhaps it was purely coincidental, but it seemed as if Hikari walked away as she noticed him there.  
  
One thing struck Takeru's mind.  
  
Avoidance.  
  
//What was it? Was it because of what everyone was laughing at me? Was it because my eyes fell out of their sockets? Why should I care anyway?  
  
Takeru smacked himself in the head for thinking such thoughts.  
  
He quickly put his stuff back into his locker, and rushed off to guitar class.  
  
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Takeru shifted uncomfortably. People again, gave him those looks.  
  
He was standing in the guitar closet. He didn't necessarily want to be standing, but he's currently in a line, so he had to be patient unless if he was to run the others over with a truck.  
  
Girls in front of him occasionally looked over their shoulders to see Takeru, then whispered to each other. How annoying, Takeru thought.  
  
Was his hair messed? Was his shirt inside out? What is possibly so laughable?  
  
Takeru reached his hand up to grab a guitar. He didn't try it out to see if it sounded good, since there were nice ones and bad ones in there. But it looked nice. Not always does a pleasant looking guitar sound equally pleasant, but a wrecked up guitar usually doesn't sound wholesome.  
  
He paused as something strange caught his eye.  
  
His palm.  
  
It was smeared in black.  
  
Why?  
  
He felt great suspicions and started to logically solve any mysteries.  
  
Which, of course, led him nowhere, and he paused physically which resulted in people behind him kicking him in the ass and telling him to keep going.  
  
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"Ne, nee-san?" Takeru poked Yamato, who was strumming.  
  
The class was left idle, as the teacher had gone out to run some errands. But after all, it proved little difference. With the teacher there, the class played guitar. Without the teacher there, the class played guitar.  
  
"Hmm?" Yamato responded, biting his lower lip.  
  
"Is there something wrong with me?"  
  
Yamato raised his eyebrow at that question. He certainly knew what Takeru meant, but the question was phrased a tad...serious? Perhaps.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
Takeru heard a laugh. A very slight laugh, but notable, between Yamato's words. Yamato was lying.  
  
Yamato wouldn't tell him. Beating the information out of Yamato was definitely not an option, since Yamato could easily fold Takeru into a box.  
  
Takeru frowned. A couple of girls behind him giggled again. Although the amount was decreasing, it was still occurring.  
  
This bothered Takeru, more over the cause than the effect. If everyone so easily laughed at him, there must be something with his appearance.  
  
Takeru looked around the room. The teacher wasn't there.  
  
If he left the room now, he would be leaving without permission.  
  
His brain twitched again in curiosity.  
  
Oh, he didn't freaking care any more.  
  
Takeru ran out of the classroom, hoping to reach the washroom.  
  
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Takeru walked to the first mirror.  
  
It was covered in vulgarity.  
  
He sidestepped.  
  
The second mirror.  
  
He saw an image.  
  
His face. A moustache was drawn in, much like the one of Mr. Pringles. Then a word bubble beside his lips.  
  
'I am a transsexual.'  
  
It was written very badly, probably because Takeru's face is not flat.  
  
Not to mention all sorts of turd drawn around his face in different colours.  
  
It must have been done while he was sleeping.  
  
Who could have done it?  
  
The person sitting in front of him?  
  
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"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Takeru held the neck of the guitar with both hands, holding it behind him much like a sledgehammer as he dashed towards Yamato.  
  
Yamato looked up, and stopped strumming. Still sitting cross-legged.  
  
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The guitar is covering the top half of Takeru's head. It seemed as if Takeru wore the guitar from the sound hole like a hat.  
  
It wasn't difficult to guess what happened. Takeru was thankful for the shallowness of the guitar's depth. If it had been any deeper, it would cover his nose as well, which will result in him having difficulty breathing, then probably dying.  
  
"Wow, this is going to be hard to fix." The nurse commented.  
  
"I suppose it is."  
  
"Hmm." The nurse tried to insert a finger between Takeru's head and the sound hole, but found there to be no space available at all. "I think I'm going to need a chainsaw."  
  
"WHAT?!" Takeru shouted. His face was relatively still; any excessive facial expressions will cause really big pressures on his face.  
  
"Don't worry, we're not going to cut your face. Just the guitar."  
  
"I know THAT!"  
  
The nurse stood up and walked over to the phone nailed to the wall and called the office.  
  
She seemed to ask for a chainsaw.  
  
"What if you accidentally cut me?!" Takeru raised his voice again.  
  
"Don't worry. I won't." The nurse paused. "Unless my hand slips, of course."  
  
Takeru gulped.  
  
Screams echoed.  
  
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Takeru sighed.  
  
The 'operation' was mostly successful. Although Takeru nearly fainted due to the closeness the chainsaw blade shaved by. His face was also fixed. However, it was done in some weird ink, so the nurse resorted to scrubbing with something that resembled sandpaper when good ol' water didn't work.  
  
School was long over, for about half an hour.  
  
Takeru felt more relief as he walked down the hall without anyone laughing in his face.  
  
Then again, the hall was silently empty.  
  
Stomp.  
  
Stomp stomp stomp.  
  
Not silently anymore.  
  
Takeru watches as a figure runs down the hall, towards his direction; her coat flying like a cape behind her.  
  
His eyes trailed her, and she quickly passed him like a blurred image before stopping.  
  
Miyako's long hair still continued to swing from the momentum. Her face was red, obviously from running.  
  
"Oh, Take-chan. Tell Hika-chan that I can't be with her today, I have something urgent to take care of." Miyako blurted.  
  
Miyako quickly continued in her path.  
  
"Wait!" Takeru halted Miyako, who only stopped and looked over her shoulder, wanting to continue running. "Where is she at?"  
  
"The photo room." was her answer.  
  
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Takeru looked at the map, which was included in his agenda, then at his surroundings again.  
  
Somehow, he had gotten lost despite his attempt to follow the map completely.  
  
It was like some kind of maze- No, he corrected himself. Labyrinth, this path to the photography room. Not only does one have to walk through all these similar pathways with only sharp right angle corner turns - which gives no help as to any markings of where he might be - but there are also stairs, dozens flights of stairs of different lengths, going down and up (all symbolized by the same little diagram of stairs on the map, which, again, helps none in figuring out positions) and possibly into some fourth dimension.  
  
Also, this pathway doesn't only lead to the photography room, but also to other areas. Takeru was not sure where else it could have led to, but he swore that he saw elves, which means Santa's workshop is probably around here somewhere too.  
  
Takeru's eyes glinted.  
  
Before him was a door that's labelled 'Photography room'. This has to be it. Unless this leads to some dreadful hall, which could possibly, but not certainly, lead to it.  
  
The door opened.  
  
Takeru entered.  
  
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This was certainly it, there were people here looking at pictures, and negative films.  
  
Hikari.  
  
There.  
  
Takeru walked up to approach her, she was talking with some other girl.  
  
"...And then I opened the door, and she covered it and screamed..."  
  
Blood squirted out of Takeru's nose.  
  
"But I didn't know that she was in there opening her film, right? So even if it got exposed, it shouldn't be my fault..."  
  
Hikari nodded, and the other girl went away after a few seconds.  
  
Hikari looked and noticed Takeru's presence.  
  
"Oh. Hey, Take-chan. What are you doing here?"  
  
Takeru scratched his head. "Oh...um, Miya-chan told me to tell you..."  
  
Hikari waited for Takeru to finish his sentence. Which he didn't.  
  
"Told you to tell me...?" Hikari urged Takeru to continue.  
  
Takeru's mind blanked. What DID Miyako tell him to tell Hikari? For the most part, Takeru only remembered Miyako telling him that Hikari was in the photo room, and..._something_...  
  
...What was it? How could it not be remembered?  
  
Takeru tried systematically to recall.  
  
//  
  
Miyako running by.  
  
Miyako opened her mouth.  
  
"...  
  
Her lips moving in small motions.  
  
..."  
  
Takeru tried to connect the frequencies which made up the words.  
  
"She told you to go fuck yourself." Takeru finished.  
  
"Wait." Takeru insisted to the confused Hikari, realizing the illogic in that.  
  
He closed his eyes again.  
  
//  
  
"...  
  
Miyako moved her lips so delicately.  
  
..."  
  
Her lips said...  
  
"I'll be waiting for you in bed." Takeru read.  
  
"Wait, that's wrong too."  
  
Click.  
  
"She said that she can't accompany you today, she has something urgent to do."  
  
"Oh, I see. Thanks." Hikari jutted out her lips thoughtfully.  
  
Blink.  
  
Blink.  
  
"Oh, thank you." Hikari repeated, almost intended as a dismissal.  
  
"What do you do here?" Takeru ignored it, and questioned further.  
  
"This is the photography room." Hikari introduced. "And back there is the dark room. Where we develop our film and print them."  
  
Point.  
  
"Ah. I see."  
  
"I'm printing right now, waiting for the print to show up. But that takes a minute or so, so I'm just waiting out here. I don't like being in the dark that much." Hikari explained.  
  
"Can I go see?" Takeru requested curiously.  
  
"Sure."  
  
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Takeru rolled his head around in all directions like a child discovering a new place. All sorts of unfamiliar things were here, but he couldn't really see it.  
  
Visibility was low; any light provided for vision was only given off by the red rays reflected off the ceiling from the tube.  
  
//This is so cool, it's like in the movies...  
  
"Oh, it's done." Hikari remarked. She quickly grabbed a picture from underneath a pool of what appears to be water (since a tap is constantly providing the liquid), and used something that is similar to those rubber wipers used for washing car windows, only smaller, and scraped any excessive liquid off, then walked outside.  
  
"Huh..." Takeru let his hands simply wander, helping him examine his environment. However, any machinery is easily seen, and his hand avoided those.  
  
Plunk.  
  
Splash.  
  
"Ah!"  
  
Apparently, Takeru accidentally knocked over some chemical from above, and he's soaked in it. Thankfully, it wasn't something like hydrochloric acid, although how that could be used for photography is beyond anyone.  
  
Hikari rushed in swiftly, her hand still holding the photo.  
  
"Oh no. What happened?"  
  
Takeru simply moved his hand down his body, showing the obvious.  
  
"You better go get a shower." Hikari suggested, although not fiercely.  
  
Takeru nodded in agreement, and ran off in fear of some effect to the prolonged contact with the chemical.  
  
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Knock.  
  
"Who's in there?" Takeru shouted, rushed.  
  
"One sec."  
  
Flush.  
  
Gabu opened the door and walked past Takeru.  
  
Takeru just stared.  
  
//How did he...?  
  
No matter.  
  
Takeru quickly rushed in the bathroom and closed the door.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Takeru stripped of all his clothes. His wig is still on. Hesitantly, he took it off, deciding that it would be better to wash it separately.  
  
He looked in the mirror.  
  
Didn't he take off the wig already?  
  
He looked at the wig in his hand.  
  
Realization struck.  
  
This was actually HIS hair. Yes. Whatever the hair stylists did, it now grew in shape and is perfectly congruent to the wig.  
  
It was long to his shoulders, and shined lightly, more than the wig.  
  
To this, Takeru felt positively and negatively.  
  
Positive: A wig isn't needed to be worn anymore.  
  
Negative: Oh fuck, not only does he need to be a freaking drag queen, but now he grew his own girly hair.  
  
Takeru tossed the wig aside, deciding that it won't be needed anymore.  
  
Opening the door to the shower, Takeru stepped in and turned on the water.  
  
-cut- (The following scene is to graphic to be described in detail in a PG- 13 story)  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Phew..." Takeru stepped out of the shower, rubbing the towel against his hair.  
  
A high pitched scream.  
  
//Shit. I thought there was no one else in the house.  
  
Takeru observed: the bathroom door was opened.  
  
//Could it have been Hikari? Maybe she came to check on me and found me here. Shit. How the hell do I fix this?  
  
Wrapping the towel around his hips, Takeru quickly ran out to find a girl covering her mouth in shock.  
  
Or the apparent girl anyway.  
  
"Ken..." Takeru mumbled in relief and defeat. "What the hell was that?"  
  
The disturbed Ken shakily spoke. "I...I saw your thing, and I..."  
  
"What? Don't you have a thing?"  
  
"Yes, but you had one, and then your hair was l, long and all, and it looked like that you were a- it was just so disgusting, and I just-"  
  
Ken quickly rushed into the bathroom.  
  
Sounds of vomit.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Everybody wasn't here.  
  
Takeru sighed as he leaned against the glass panel of the balcony.  
  
Taichi, Yamato, Sora, Mimi. Absolutely no idea where they went.  
  
Miyako was still on that errand of hers.  
  
Ken got called by Miyako to help her.  
  
Hikari is probably still in the photo room. The school opens late to encourage extracurricular practice on academic studies.  
  
"What the hell..." Takeru mumbled to himself.  
  
He continued to stare blankly at the plain white wall.  
  
Stare.  
  
Stare.  
  
Flash.  
  
Takeru blinked.  
  
He swore that he saw something. The white wall suddenly flashed, and a silhouette of him was projected onto the wall for a brief decisecond.  
  
Takeru quickly stood up and turned around.  
  
Hikari.  
  
On the balcony.  
  
Hikari lowered her camera and laughed, at being discovered, and playfully stuck out her tongue.  
  
Takeru slid open the glass door, which separated himself and Hikari.  
  
"What-how'd you get up here?" Takeru asked frantically.  
  
"Oh, I have my ways." Hikari stared down the balcony. Not too impressive, but not simple either. A mediocre height.  
  
"What were you doing?" Takeru continued on to the next question, his mind popping too many wonders for him to ask all at once.  
  
"I saw your back on the glass. I found it interesting, so I took a picture of it." Hikari winked, holding her small rectangular camera.  
  
Suddenly, all the questions in Takeru's mind seemed to dissipate.  
  
Maybe it was because of her straightforward and simple answer.  
  
Maybe it was the scene of her, standing in front of the dark night with lights of schoolrooms illuminating across.  
  
Takeru felt so many encounters of uncertainty lately.  
  
"So, how about it?" Hikari broke the silence.  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Model for me." Hikari said plainly.  
  
"What? Why me?!" Takeru overreacted.  
  
"I find that...well. How do I say this?" Hikari looked to the sky, pondering for the right words. "You seem...very masculine for a girl. Masculine like a teenage boy. You feel like...a very youthful, well. Tomboy, even if you don't dress like one. Very cute." She winked.  
  
"Wha-what? I'm not modelling!" Takeru stuttered.  
  
Takeru suddenly realized that his wishes for company a few minutes ago were answered, and he is now simply rejecting it. But it was too late now, his words are already spoken.  
  
"What about for a small fee?" Hikari tempted.  
  
Takeru stopped to think.  
  
"...Okay, fine, then."  
  
Maybe it wasn't the money that he wanted, but it certainly gave an enough excuse.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Move your waist to the right a bit."  
  
"No! That'll show my belly button!"  
  
"That's what I'm trying to do!"  
  
Flashes.  
  
Laughs.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Takeru, very quickly, neglected the fact that there is, always, a third spectator.  
  
Kei smirked.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Tuduku.  
  
BGM: Aban 02 - Digimon 02  
  
Next Episode Preview:  
  
Ken: In frustration for being ignored, Miyako decidedly searches to search for 'Ichijouji Ken'. And keeps pulling me along. I hope nothing bad happens...  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Okay, that's all.  
  
Remember to review, and when you do, please put in your suggestions of a Christmas fic! Please do!! Remember to specify what two characters and what situation! (Not connected to Boku-tachi/Atashi-tachi)  
  
-Lumi


	16. Episode 7: Shinjuku Chase

Boku-tachi/Atashi-tachi  
  
Oi oi! Lumi here. First of all, biiiiig apology. People who have read my fic before will know what I'm talking about, people who's first time reading this should skip this part so you won't know what a horrible person I am.  
  
Ever since Christmas, there has been a big period of...well, nothing. I can justify that with a long list of legitimate reasons, but I don't think you'd want to hear it anyway. So, yeah. I'm postponing the Christmas fic until _Christmas of 2003_. Why? So I'll be able to get something that's a bit more than half-assed, and would be on time for Christmas. The results will be kept, although suggestions for plot and settings could still be sent in. Sorry for all the fuss and inconvenience. Sorry sorry.  
  
And...recognition of new reviewers: fan of boku-tachi/atashi-tachi, Angel Reaper, Angelic-Yuki, Gohan SSJ2, A.J, Kai, Sera, Savoan Locc, aiko, xluvablexlilxgrlx, Pinali, Relaxing Pikachu (hi hi!), hannah, Ladychichi, windedlove, Princess Roly, and Saiouri 17.  
  
Whew.  
  
Anyway, I'm going to try to keep writing this fic in a usteady/u pace, but I can't guarantee the one chapter per week thing anymore.  
  
Enough blabber.  
  
Any * marked items might not be familiar to some people, and it explained at the bottom.  
  
Disclaimer: If Digimon was mine, I would never touch the dub. Therefore, it is not mine.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Episode 7: Shinjuku chase  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Ken quickly scribbled the last few words before grabbing the paper, stuffing it into his bag (Kei insisted that over the backpack. A stronger image of a girl, says he.), and runs off from the classroom seconds after the periodic bell rings. Immediately after exiting the classroom, he looks to both his sides. Numbers and formulae, namely the Pythagorean and a several others, ran through his head.  
  
_Left side...approximately...230 metres.  
  
Right side...about...240 metres._  
  
Ken swore silently, keeping the indecency a secret. Quickly from his pocket he pulled out a coin, 100 yen. Right arm held out and eyes closed, he quickly assigned a face to either side.  
  
Plop.  
  
Ken opened one eye. The coin landed on his hand.  
  
On its side.  
  
Now, Ken didn't feel the intent to shake it or topple the coin so that it would land on a decisive side. Doing so would make the result entirely based on how exactly he contacted the coin, and not up to advantages or fate. Speaking of fate, Ken also wanted to question why it was being so humorous today, in that a coin landing on its side is a ridiculous probability even lower than rolling six dices and getting all the same number at the same time.  
  
Tick tock.  
  
Tick tock.  
  
Plop.  
  
The coin finally fell to a side, revealing designs of metallic sakura*. Ken rushed to the right.  
  
"Aa, Ken-chan!"  
  
Ken mumbled another vulgarity. He found himself to be often repeating this new found habit ever since he had played this little game of 'I'll dress up and you can watch me as I walk around talking to others and pretending that I'm female you sick bastard'.  
  
"Un, what is it?" Ken turned politely towards Miyako.  
  
"Do you want to help me today again?" Miyako asked.  
  
Ever since a bit ago, Miyako had requested 'Kenko' to join her in her quest to search for Ichijouji Ken, miraculously the same person as Kenko and not found out. Ken wasn't sure why. As Ichijouji Ken, he had met Miyako for...15 minutes, along with a phone call that resulted in less than that amount of time. If for some reason, Ken had proposed a marriage to Miyako (providing that she agreed), and that Ken had ran away, it would be understandable. But, this case is much lighter. Ken wonders if he actually found someone more ill than Kei.  
  
Ken self-consciously placed a finger beside his head while brushing away locks of hair. "Umm, today? I don't think..."  
  
"Oh." Miyako blankly said. "If you can't come, that's alright. Too bad, though, I'm going to go see if he's at his house today."  
  
"I don't think that I can't go!" Ken forcefully improvised.  
  
Miyako wrinkled her brows at the odd wording.  
  
"Yeah, if I think you'll need some help if you're going to do something like that..." Ken laughed nervously.  
  
Ken believes that Miyako will seriously go to his house and turn the whole place around if she needs. Although quite a trouble for himself, he is quite able to go and pretend to help, as he is secretly destructive to her progresses.  
  
Miyako's continuing words become increasingly indistinct to Ken as he guiltily looked aside.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
-Ken&Miyako@Library-  
  
"Where do you think the phone book usually is?" Miyako turned around in circles to look. "It's not like I usually come to the library..."  
  
"I'll go find it, then." Ken calmly volunteered. "What do you need it for?"  
  
"Ah, just to find Ichijouji Ken's address."  
  
"Oh. I'll just do that for you."  
  
"Ah? Okay, thanks!"  
  
Ken uncomfortably glanced around as he headed towards the counter with several phone books stacked neatly on top of each other. He awkwardly pulled one off the top (probably due to the weight and his reduced strength) and started to flip through the pages.  
  
_If I get lucky enough, I might be able to pull this off..._  
  
Ken glanced behind himself at Miyako, then quickly backed at the phone book before anyone noticed.  
  
_She doesn't seem to be the brightest, but she might catch on quickly if she remembers._  
  
_Now..._  
  
Ken stopped at a page, then trailed down the dusty page with his index finger down to one name.  
  
_Yes. This will do for now._  
  
"Yo!" Miyako suddenly jump-hugged Ken, with her arms around his neck. "Did you find it?"  
  
"U...un." Ken stuttered. It was a common 'girl thing' to do (guys certainly didn't do this to each other), but Ken is still far from getting used to it.  
  
Slowly removing Miyako's arms one by one, Ken then pointed on one line on the page.  
  
"There?" Miyako's eyes followed Ken's finger.  
  
The name corresponded, 'Ichijouji Ken'. And on the right of that, past the numbers...  
  
"Eh?! Shinjuku*?" Miyako exclaimed, her eyes widening. "But I thought he lived in Odaiba..."  
  
"Hmm, I guess not. You know, if you think Shinjuku is too far, then we don't have to-"  
  
"No, that's alright with me." Miyako paused for a second. "Are you okay with it?"  
  
"Ahahaha, as long as you're okay with it..." Ken's cheek twitched as he forced a smile.  
  
_Ahahaha, we're so going to get into trouble..._  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
-Ken&Miyako@Train-  
  
Ken worriedly around his surroundings; everyone was barely managing, everyone barely had their own space to move around, but enough to not get squished. He glanced at the Baby-G on his wrist (again, Kei insisted something slightly more girly than the alternative), reading 4:32, with a smaller counter displaying 45 and consistently increasing. Ken was thankful; it's not yet time until adults get off their job and go to happy hour.  
  
"Should we call Sora-chan and the others to tell them that we're going to be in Shinjuku?" Ken asked Miyako. He was still uncomfortable calling someone not so familiar -chan*, especially a senpai*. Damn those twisted school rules that need getting used to.  
  
Miyako started to move her hands around her hips, mainly around her pockets, as if to agree to what Ken just said.  
  
"Yeah...sure. I'll get my cell..." Miyako replied in doubt as she tries to search through the possible holding areas in her clothes for her cell, then tries one more time.  
  
"Hmm. Are you sure? Maybe you left it somewhere?" Ken suggested, then looked around, mainly at the windows, as if implying 'Well, it's not like you can go get it now.'  
  
"Oh!" Miyako snapped her fingers and swung her arm. "I remember now. The teacher was walking by, so I put the cell in my binder in a hurry, and I probably put it into the locker after class and forgot about it. Damn it, Miyako, damn it!"  
  
Ken laughed slightly at her exaggerated reaction. "It's okay. I'll call them."  
  
Ken reached into his back pocket and pulled out a cell (Kogepan* themed shell, because Kei said so for girly, and Kogepan is not as girly as other things, but girly enough), then pressed a button beside the relatively large screen.  
  
"Home." Ken said into the mic, followed by tones emitted by the phone.  
  
"...Eh?" Ken accidentally voiced, took a glance at Miyako, then quickly turned so his back faced her.  
  
"What are you doing, Gabu?" Ken whispered. "Put Take on the phone. What? Just do it. Huh? ...I'll think about it. What? Meat? Fine, fine. I'll _try_."  
  
Ken looked over his shoulder while he waited. Miyako wasn't paying attention to him, and he looked back.  
  
"Take-chan?" Ken unnaturally said into the phone. "Miyako-chan and I are going to be a bit late. Why? Oh, there's just this little thing that I have to do. Oh, and when Kei...-niisan* gets back, can you tell him to...uh, do something about the current situation?"  
  
It would probably be less fishy to Miyako in the case that she overhears that Ken calls Kei '-nii-san'. Ken looked to the side to see the still bug, floating in the air. Normally, if Kei was there, he'd make the bee fly around and be annoying, but it seems to be on autopilot for now. Perhaps he's on some long ass lunch break.  
  
"Aa. Thanks." Ken ended the call with a button press.  
  
"So..." Miyako focused on Ken as he pocketed his cell.  
  
"We're all good." Ken nodded. "We won't have to hurry now."  
  
"Ah, that's good." Miyako nodded as well.  
  
"..."  
  
"Hahahahaha..." Ken and Miyako both nervously laughed at the same time.  
  
Oddly, there began to exist an odd awkward silence that Miyako never thought existed between girls. And it continued.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
-15 minutes later-  
  
Ken continued to look down at his feet. He wished that Shinjuku would be soon, but the train continued on. What was it? Boredom? Tiredness? Discomfort? Whatever it was disturbed Ken.  
  
_...U...uh?_  
  
Ken peered behind him to find a middle-aged bald man standing right behind him.  
  
_Thi-This is..._  
  
And feeling a certain pair of hands touching around down at his...behind.  
  
_Oh no..._  
  
Not only touching, but also a bit of...massaging. Ken blushed.  
  
Ken positioned his feet to turn around quickly when he felt a particularly sharp object pointed at his back.  
  
"Don't shout, little miss. Or else, I don't know what might happen."  
  
Ken shot a look at the zoned out Miyako, but she continued to look elsewhere, as no large action served as a stimulus for her to react.  
  
[Don't worry.]  
  
_Huh?_  
  
[That knife is retractable. One of those toy ones. A bit more pressure and it'll retract into the handle. The guy is probably afraid to be caught with a real knife.]  
  
A familiar mini flying object flew in front of Ken's eyes and started to wave its hands.  
  
"Are you sure? How do you know?" Ken anxiously questioned, but quietly.  
  
[Well, very rarely do you have a knife with a handle that's longer than the blade, that's not very efficient. So, I'm guessing...]  
  
"Guessing?! What if I die?"  
  
[Well, if you like what's happening right now, there won't be a risk at all.]  
  
"Oh, screw it." Ken swiftly made a half turn, surprising the man. He quickly dropped the false blade.  
  
Miyako looked to the blade drop, more so to the sound of it.  
  
"What's wrong, Ken-chan?" Miyako asked, worried at the odd air between Ken and the man.  
  
"He was groping me." Ken calmly said. "What should I do?"  
  
"Oh, please don't shout or tell the police! If you do, my wife will-" the man pleaded.  
  
"Oh. Alright." Ken understandingly agreed. "But you better not shout either."  
  
These past weeks, Ken has been under tremendous stress. The workload at Sakura high wasn't any easier than his previous school, and his disguise put him into constant paranoia. Not to mention the occasional times like these where he has to accompany Miyako.  
  
Ken's knee lifted.  
  
"Argh! I hate gropers!" Miyako exclaimed. And she helped out.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Upcoming station: Shinjuku."  
  
Sounds of sliding doors.  
  
Murmurs.  
  
Sound of a falling object.  
  
Mixing of various conversations.  
  
"Hey, what happened?"  
  
"Someone fainted!"  
  
"They look beat up!"  
  
"Let's get out of here!"  
  
"Un."  
  
"Are you okay?"  
  
"Someone call the ambulance."  
  
"I'm on it, I'm on it!"  
  
Sounds of sliding doors.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
-Ken&Miyako@ShinjukuStation-  
  
"Phew, that was close." Ken wiped his hand over his forehead, removing the sweat.  
  
They just left the train, and is standing in the middle of the station, standing beside a pillar.  
  
"Geez. I didn't know he would faint that easily." Miyako cracked her knuckles. "But that old guy deserved it. I hate gropers."  
  
"I could tell..." Ken chuckled. "I only kneed him once."  
  
"I was just a bit..." Miyako puffed up her face, not knowing how to end the sentence.  
  
Miyako stared at Ken, slightly annoyed, as if saying 'What the hell?'.  
  
"Eh? What is it?" Ken looked over himself, trying to figure out what Miyako was staring at.  
  
"Why did that old guy grope you?" Miyako complained, her tone whined.  
  
"...What?" Ken stared back at Miyako with a confused look.  
  
"I was right beside you. Why did he prefer you?"  
  
"Uh...that's...uh.." Ken tried to think up a valid reason.  
  
Miyako whipped her hand out and, quite casually, slapped Ken's butt. She then looked back at her hand.  
  
"Miyako-chan!"  
  
"Well, I guess I can't compare." Miyako said dully and started walking towards the stairs.  
  
"Wait, you're not mad, are you?" Ken ran up to her.  
  
"No, I'm not mad."  
  
"Really?"  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
The streets were uncomfortably crowded with constant bypassers, and cars moved slowly, one car length at a time. The sun shined brightly as it is late spring, and nearing summer. The air was filled with an unexplainably typical chatter and the occasional cigarette smoke. People stopped and gathered inside stores and in front of crosswalks; more noises gather around there. And two rests in the moving blur of colours.  
  
"Say, Miyako-chan." Ken changed the topic.  
  
"Hmm? What is it?" Miyako light-heartedly answered.  
  
"Why..." Ken awkwardly said. "Why do you want to find Ichijouji Ken?"  
  
"Eh?" Miyako's face reddened. "I told you before. It's because he didn't phone me back. Plus, don't you want to stand beside him? And I can see how similar you too look." Miyako joked.  
  
"That's it?" Ken's expression turned very serious. "I don't look that much like Ichijouji Ken, do I?"  
  
After the keen observations noted by the girls, Kei had given Ken some fairly convincing make-up, which seemed to make the eyes bigger and the nose a big smaller, much more girlish.  
  
"Well...I guess not." Miyako looked aside. "You know what? That's...not important for now. What we should do now is find him first." She took out a piece of folded paper, and began to unfold it.  
  
Suddenly, a boy, much about the size of Ken, ran out and took the piece of paper, then ran off into the crowd, disappearing.  
  
"That! That was Ken!" Miyako jumped and pointed. "We have to go catch him!"  
  
"What?" Ken blinked. The vision of the boy was not very clear to him. "How are you so sure?"  
  
"He just resembles Ken! And his hair, I mean, how many boys have such girly hair?" Miyako grabbed Ken's hand then started to run. "Come on!"  
  
"...Girly hair..." Ken mumbled darkly to himself while being dragged.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
As Ken started to run, he catches more and more impressions of the boy. That body type. That height. That hair. The complete reminiscence of Ichijouji Ken.  
  
Running through the Shinjuku streets was a problem due to the amount of people there, but more for Ken and Miyako than for the boy, as they are running together, and is more easily intercepted (accidentally, of course) by pedestrians. Lots of them.  
  
The two of them constantly bumped into bodies, and most of them had a strong stopping power (occasionally accompanied by words of vulgarity), and is starting to increase the distance between Ken and Miyako, and the boy.  
  
"No...!" Miyako panted. "I *cough*, can't hold on any *cough*, longer. I'll wait for you here." Miyako let go of her hand, and dropped onto a sitting position from her fatigue.  
  
Ken gave a quick glance at Miyako behind him, then started to sprint faster ahead. His locks of hair conveniently found their way to flow with the wind and out of Ken's sight. Without Miyako, he was more able to avoid the obstacles in his way, and found the boy closer to him.  
  
Left.  
  
Right.  
  
Left.  
  
Right.  
  
Ken took on a rhythmic pattern in dodging, which was surprisingly effective. The boy was in perfect view. The resemblance was flawless from the back.  
  
The boy pushed away pedestrians in his way, and, Ken behind him was not burdened in speed due to the cleared path he was given. Ken acknowledged the arms length distance.  
  
_Who are you?_  
  
Ken reached out, and the boy fell down along with him. Still feeling the boy's waist, Ken didn't hurry to get up to full readiness.  
  
"Hehehe."  
  
"You! Who-" Ken found himself interrupted by a familiar smiling face. He quickly looked back to see if Miyako was in range. She was left far behind.  
  
"What are you doing here?!" Ken angrily shouted as he pulled the wig off the boy.  
  
"Whaaa? Is that how you thank me?" Daisuke groaned as he rubbed his head in pain of having his disguise so violently removed.  
  
"Thank you?! Why should I thank you?"  
  
"Let's continue this after we get up."  
  
Ken looked around.  
  
Girl on boy.  
  
A lot of looks.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Daisuke and Ken found a close corner of a restaurant, then started to relax from their chase.  
  
"No wonder it was you." Ken brushed his hair carefully with his hands and the mirror image from the glass of the restaurant. "I didn't think there were such good runners anymore."  
  
"But anyway." Ken slammed his hand on the wall beside Daisuke. "Explain why you're here."  
  
Daisuke looked away with a silly expression. Ken followed his eyes with an even angrier look.  
  
"Alright, alright." Daisuke pushed Ken's hand down from the wall, reducing the slight hostility. "That guy, what's his name? Kei. He told me to come here. By the way, why aren't you wearing a skirt right now?"  
  
"Kei?" Veins popped in Ken's forehead. It wasn't the first time Kei troubled him. "Why did you follow what he said?"  
  
"Of course I asked him the reason as well before going ahead. I'm not going to do something so ridiculous for no reason."  
  
"Which were?" Ken pressed on.  
  
"Okay." Daisuke held up a closed fist, then started to spread his fingers as he counted. "One. He said that you asked for him to help you."  
  
_"... can you tell him to...uh, do something about the current situation?"_  
  
"That, that's-How is this helping?" Ken stuttered.  
  
"Two." Daisuke pointed out his index finger. "If I take your sheet of paper, then you don't have to go to that fake address that you put down and make lots of trouble."  
  
Ken's eyes widened in shock. "How, how..."  
  
"Kei-san looked back on the video that when he returned. He said something like...'Ken-san must be misleading Miyako-san to Shinjuku, because his address must be listed under his father's name, not his.'...or something." Daisuke recalled.  
  
"Third." Daisuke continued before Ken can budge a word in. "The simultaneous existence of 'Ichijouji Ken' and you will eliminate any possibility of the two becoming the same entity."  
  
"Where did you learn to talk like that?" Ken asked, stunned.  
  
"Oh, I just memorized what Kei said." Daisuke shamelessly replied.  
  
"..."  
  
"And one more." Daisuke lifted up his ring finger. "That me talking to you right now will make the girl stay longer in Shinjuku, and you won't have enough time to continue searching in Odaiba for today."  
  
"I thought that one up." Daisuke smiled brightly.  
  
"Heh." Ken found himself lightened up. "You came all the way here for me?"  
  
Daisuke cupped his chin in thought. "For you and for Ichiyo Higuchi*."  
  
Ken whacked Daisuke from upside the head.  
  
"I came here in a hurry, so I forgot my wallet. I need to go back to Odaiba or else I'll miss my soccer practice." Daisuke tapped his watch.  
  
"What? You're way late!" Ken took out his pocket and started to look through his coins. "Why don't you get Ichiyo Higuchi to pay for your train fare?"  
  
"Pfft. Stop fooling around and hand it over." Daisuke snatched the messy coins from Ken's palm and threw the wig at Ken, then started to run back to the train station.  
  
"Stop getting into trouble!" Ken shouted.  
  
Daisuke responded with single wave behind him.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Ken-chan!" Miyako yelled over the crowd as she saw him. "Did you get it back?"  
  
Ken made an exaggerated movement by shaking his head as he headed even closer towards Miyako.  
  
"He was too fast." Ken panted fakely. "Couldn't catch up."  
  
"He is a great soccer player, after all." Miyako said, defeated. "But why did he do that? And how did he know that we're going to find him?"  
  
"Eh, let's not worry about that for now." Ken waved it off. "Now that we don't have the paper anymore, we should go-"  
  
"Actually." Miyako looked up. "I think I remember the street. We can just ask every single house."  
  
"What? You're not serious..."  
  
"Of course I'm serious."  
  
And Miyako dragged Ken off.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Ding-dong.  
  
"No, there's no one like that here."  
  
Ding-dong.  
  
"Hmm. I'm not sure. I'll have to check through the employee list, please wait."  
  
Ding-dong.  
  
"Huh. I don't know. But do you wanna join our party-shut up, Ichiro, we know you're stoned, stop repeating. Huh? Wait, where are you going?"  
  
Ding-dong.  
  
"Ichi-who?"  
  
Ding-dong.  
  
"Oh? I don't think so. But feel free to come in and have tea. Are you sure? This is really good tea..."  
  
Ding-dong.  
  
"Yes? I am. What? I'm not lying! What? I'm too fat and bald and old...?! Get out!"  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Looks like we checked up the wrong person." Miyako noted.  
  
"Ah, it's all my fault..." Ken apologized.  
  
"Don't worry about it, if it was me, I'd have probably done the same thing."  
  
(Conversations in will be denoted as spoken in a language foreign to Japanese.)  
  
"Excuse me." A blonde woman dressed in very American clothes approached Ken and Miyako. "Do you know English?"  
  
"What is she saying?" Miyako whispered to Ken.  
  
"A little." Ken spoke, an obvious Japanese accent and katakana broken English with his words. English wasn't necessarily his best subject, although he bettered a lot of people in it simply because of his higher intelligence.  
  
"Do you know how to get to a bar? Like, where you have a drink and relax?" The woman blurted out quite quickly.  
  
"Did you catch that?" Ken looked at Miyako.  
  
Miyako shook her head.  
  
"Oh. I know." Ken took out his cell, then pressed a few buttons.  
  
The screen flashed out 'Translator', then a warning window: 'Still being beta-tested.' Ken ignored it. He handed the phone to the woman.  
  
"Press...what you want to say...on phone." Ken struggled. His English course was quite straightforward, and only asked for the memorization, much less the usage of the syntax of English.  
  
"Oh, I see." The woman took the phone, then fidgeted for a while on the small keypad before handing it back to Ken.  
  
Ken took the phone and pressed 'Translate'.  
  
Miyako moved her head in to see.  
  
'Do you know how to get to the refrigerator in the men's room of the library?'  
  
Sweatdrop.  
  
Ken mumbled and typed in a response into the phone. "To get to the men's room in the library, go up to the second floor and take a left." Ken quite distinctively remembered from his last visit and the complexity of the structure in the library.  
  
The woman looked at the phone, puzzled. Her friend, also foreign, moved in to look at the phone.  
  
'To get to chocolate in Hell, roll down the stairs when you see the blue dodecagon sign.'  
  
"What is he talking about?" The second woman asked in a tone of absolute confusion.  
  
"Maybe this 'Hell' is a place name or something." The woman suggests. "I'll ask him."  
  
And she starts to type on the keypad again.  
  
Ken looks at the phone again, hoping that it would be settled soon.  
  
'Where is the library?'  
  
"To get to the library, take a left when you get to the corner at the end of this street, and it will be straight ahead." Ken recited before he pressed a button and handed it back to the woman.  
  
'To get to Hell, stand in the middle of the street, and wait for two minutes or so.'  
  
The woman threw the phone back at Ken and commented a few choice English words that even Miyako could easily recognize and stormed away.  
  
"Well, that was odd." Ken turned to Miyako.  
  
Miyako slowly nodded, not sure of what happened. "It's a bit late. We should get back."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
-Ken&Miyako@GlassCafé-  
  
"So we'll just wait for Hikari-chan to finish before we get home." Miyako repeated to Ken.  
  
Miyako swiftly entered the doors and gave Hikari an excited greeting before helping herself to a small table.  
  
Ken, on the other hand, simply politely waved at Hikari before following Miyako to a seat.  
  
"Hikari will probably be done in...maybe 15 minutes or so." Miyako estimated.  
  
"Ah, that won't be too long." Ken said, about to sit down.  
  
"Mm. Come over on this side." Miyako patted the seat adjacent to herself, suggesting Ken to sit there rather than the one opposite.  
  
"Umm. Okay." Ken sat down.  
  
Miyako rested her head on Ken's shoulder.  
  
"Uh? Miyako-chan?" Ken carefully looked over at his shoulder.  
  
"You don't mind, do you?" Miyako slurred. "I'm just tired."  
  
"No, I guess I don't mind." Ken uncomfortably shifted.  
  
"Thanks, Ken-chan." Miyako sighed. "You're such a good friend. And we haven't even met for that long."  
  
Ken's conscience stirred.  
  
_How come...This is so odd. Do girls often do this to girls? It's not a same gender thing, I've never seen boys do this to each other. How...strange. Maybe it's just a girl girl thing. But..._  
  
Ken took a quick glance at Miyako's head on his shoulder.  
  
_It's such a comforting thing to do. Between friends? Between lovers? I don't think it matters. It's just...that, why don't boys do it too?_  
  
A picture of Daisuke leaning his head on Ken's shoulder flashed through his head and he kept himself from shuddering.  
  
"So." Ken broke the silence. "You still didn't tell me why you wanted to find Ichijouji Ken."  
  
"You really want to know?" Miyako mumbled without moving.  
  
"...A bit." Ken admitted, staring straight across the table.  
  
"It's just that...did you ever have a fantasy when you were little, and that fantasy seemed to still make such perfect sense to try to act out in real life even when you're older?" Miyako attempted to describe.  
  
"...No, I don't think so." Ken frankly answered. He wasn't sure even what Miyako was saying.  
  
"I guess maybe you won't understand, then." Miyako stopped, then the silence returned.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Miyako-chan, I'll be ready in about 2-" Hikari said from two tables away.  
  
Ken crossed his lips with his index finger, and pointed to the sleeping Miyako on his shoulder.  
  
Hikari nodded, then quietly walked back to the counter with two handfuls of trays.  
  
Ken regretfully looked at Miyako's sleeping face.  
  
_If, perhaps, we were in different circumstances..._  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"-decide." Gabu patted Ken's back. "Remember what you promised me for tonight."  
  
"I remember." Ken nodded, his face slightly troubled.  
  
"I'll _try_." Ken stressed again.  
  
"Minna-san*, it's dinner time!" Sora projected from the kitchen.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Ne, Take." Ken went and sat beside Takeru on the bunk bed.  
  
"What is it?" Takeru looked at Ken. "You're forgetting your -chan again."  
  
"Forget about those things." Ken grumbled.  
  
"Um, okay."  
  
"What do you feel about this?" Ken plopped his head onto Takeru's shoulders.  
  
Takeru's forehead darkened. "Um...uh, well, that is...I'm really happy that you feel that way about me, but I don't think I can accept your feelings..."  
  
"Not _that_." Ken pointed to the contact point between Ken's head and Takeru's shoulder. "This."  
  
"Oh." Takeru pondered. "Well...er, seriously, it doesn't feel bad at all."  
  
"Really?" Ken raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Just a bit odd coming from you."  
  
"Well, night." Ken lifted his head and climbed into the top bunk.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Who are you?"  
  
_I'm Ichijouji Ken._  
  
"That's not true! You can't be Ichijouji Ken."  
  
_I am him._  
  
"You can't be him! Because I am him!"  
  
_You? Ichijouji Ken? You're not._  
  
"I am! Look at me!"  
  
_Who are you trying to lie to, you fake?_  
  
Ken opened his eyes. They closed, seconds later.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
"Do you want to come with me again today?" Miyako ran up to Ken.  
  
It was only a semi-minute after the after school bell had rang. Ken didn't have any attempts to escape.  
  
"No, I think I'm going to pass."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
Tuduku.  
  
BGM: Aban 02 - Digimon 02  
  
Next Episode:  
  
Yamato: A two-part episode, Taichi finds himself struggling with school, and Sora helps him out, but Taichi doesn't intent to get help from her. Also, a substitute? This person...  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
* Glossary  
  
1) In one of the Japanese coins, sakura is printed on one side.  
  
2) Tokyo is separated in to several districts. Odaiba being one of them, as well as Shinjuku.  
  
3) -chan is an 'ending' used along with someone's name. Usually for girls, and definitely between very familiar people. Has a bit of a 'cutesy' intent.  
  
4) A senpai is basically a senior (in that they probably have more experience than you, rather than be really old), possibly at school, work, or anywhere else.  
  
5) Kogepan is a girl item much like Hello Kitty, Badtz Maru, Pochacco, and others. It's a piece of burnt bread (and tries to warn of other young breads not to get burnt!).  
  
6) -niisan after someone's name tells of that they are the older brother of the speaker.  
  
7) Ichiyo Higuchi is a historical figure (female) printed on a 5000 yen bill. Daisuke saying that is much like saying 'George Washington' for whatever bill he is printed on (I'm not sure because I'm Canadian =p).  
  
8) Minna-san means everyone, simply.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------  
  
So...yep. Please review.  
  
-Lumi 


	17. Episode 8: Faraway Sunshine

* * *

Boku-tachi/Atashi-tachi 

Okay. Before you guys kill me, let me hide behind a rock. ::avoids fruits, banana peels, nuclear bombs and whatnot::

Sigh. I really have no excuse. Well, if you're upset at me, you're free to complain to me (not through e-mail, I don't like answering e-mail, but you can IM me anytime).

Someone mentioned that it's been a year and a half? Sounds about right. Well, first things first before I rant:

First-time reviewers ::deepbreath::: Alexis : Digital Survivor, KuTiExAzNxAnGeL, Angels INC, JEMak, takeru takaishi, sdg, 1[ ayumi ]1, miyawada, kari, I.N.O.A.N., ---, fosheezay, Cettie-girl, flipstahhz, icemint, metablade, blackdeath, Phalken, Ashlei Calahart, ebacusta, Tench-Sama, cherries, Zoleth, miaow227, RogueSummersLover, master man man man, Unmei no Hana, custard colored fur, Whatever, blau1310, and Couch Potato.

Thank you all, and remember. I go by names that I haven't seen, so if I messed up anywhere or something, just let me know. And, uh, the asterisks aren't showing up because of something weird FFnet does when I upload documents. If anyone can help me fix this, it would be appreciated.

Disclaimer: Digimon isn't mine. Insert humour here.

Anyhow.

Well, first thing. I went back and read some of my previous chapter, and thought 'what the hell was I thinking?'. So in this chapter I've just about nullified my formats to italics, and reduced my Japanese vocabulary to minimal. After all, people complain about them all the time anyway. Personally, I'm not sure if I'm right or not, not being Japanese and just checking up on a dictionary.

Secondly. It has been a long time. I think my style has changed...slightly. Well, the reason that I haven't been writing was that I haven't been feeling funny enough. Really, I should put inspired, but that would just be lying. So, lacking in a sense of humour, you might find it a bit weak. = If you want to leave now, I'd understand. When going through the humour, you might find that I've decided to use less jokes that revolve around taking advantage of the cross dressing boys. So, yeah. I'll see how that works out.

Thirdly, I want to say that I'm moving on to something else after this chapter. Now, this in no way means that this will be discontinued. In fact, writing something else might help me want to write this one even more, if you see how that works. I have a lot more free time this year, so... Well, I'm not going to promise anything. But we'll see how it goes. I've been meaning to get this to you guys in the summer, but, believe it or not, I started early August. So this is my fault, really. Those of you who are in school, I hope you'll read this when you get home or something.

Well, I'll stop wasting space.

Thank you for you all who supported me, and I hope to see you again, soon. ::bow::

* * *

Episode 8: Faraway Sunshine

* * *

Yamato laid a wet towel on Taichi's face.

In Ancient China, this was a form of execution. By laying multiple layers of wet cloth on the criminal's face, he or she will be unable to breathe and suffocate.

Yamato sighed.

Every bloody morning he would have to wait for Taichi to get up to go to school together. Abandoning Taichi would've seemed like a fine idea if not for the constant bitching afterwards. It has to be the estrogen, Yamato thought. But then Taichi was a bitch altogether anyway.

What was supposedly an eight-something morning wake has become a six-thirty wake for Yamato lately. It was a constant discomfort – constant alertness. His unique circumstances have caused him to be slightly paranoid in his sleep. From a morning shower (one routine he's actually happy about; the hot water when everyone wakes up is usually spent, if not the bathrooms occupied), he would spend the remainder of his time staring at himself in the mirror as drops of water would drip from his acute face to the pool of clear he had let sit for washing his face with. The slightest creak would be startling, for he had no shirt on.

All hygiene-ized and dressed (yes, complete with skirt and pigtails), Yamato sat by the bedside and watched Taichi twitch.

Taichi wouldn't die. The thought of him dying had never occurred to Yamato. Once he had gotten into a fight with someone and although his opponent had a steel pipe that had hit Taichi on the head for well over 20 times.....well, it broke in half. And the other half ended up in that guy's ass.

"Yamako-chan....." A distant female voice rang.

"Coming."

* * *

"What are we having today?" Yamato casually pulled out a seat and sat.

"Western today. Eggs and sausages." Sora replied without turning herself from the pan.

"Mmm." A slight tone of approval.

It was a pleasant breakfast, to say the least. The more energetic members, namely Takeru, Ken, Hikari, Miyako, and Mimi had left early.

Koushiro was lying back with his hands behind his head.

"You know. This is nice." he said simply.

Yamato nodded. It was.

"Better wake Tai-chan up. She can eat fast, but still, she'll be late if she sleeps in anymore."

Blink.

* * *

"Is.....she still alive?"

Reach.

Yamato blocked Sora's hand, and reached for Taichi's wrist.

"Still beating."

"Doesn't look like she's breathing, though."

Reach.

"No. Let's see how long it lasts."

* * *

"What's up with you guys?" Taichi muttered in the odd air. "You're all so silent."

Whether they had been awestruck or disturbed, even they themselves are not too sure of.

Yamato casually stared at the sky on the walk to the school building. He squinted.

It seems the clouds conglomerated into one large hand that's giving the finger.

Yamato chuckled. He had seen weirder things.

"Maybe this is god's way of telling me that I'm fucked today."

"What was that?" Koushiro walked closer to Yamato, hoping for conversation.

"Um." Yamato pointed back up at the sky, but he couldn't relocate it.

"Never mind."

* * *

They arrived several minutes before the bell, and the classroom was already packed. There was an air of gossip. Taichi wondered about the source of the girls' energy; this current lifestyle made him lethargic every day.

"Psst. Sora-chan." Mimi waved.

"What is it?" Sora asked as she walked towards the little gathering of people in the middle of the room.

Taichi, Yamato, and Koushiro had walked a bit closer, but out of arms length, hoping to eavesdrop. Takeru and Ken, however, had already made their way shamelessly into the circle of conversation.

The boys couldn't quite get all of the discussion between most of the girls in the class, as it was mostly fragmented phrases between squeals. But, from what they gathered, the teacher was sick. The sub is a guy. Hope he is hot.

Oddly, Taichi could almost empathize with those girls if it didn't question his sexuality. The small amount of males in the school – teachers and staff – seemed almost to be hired based on how unattractive they are. Most of them are well into their 50's.

This circumstance resulted in something that was slightly uncommon: girls checking out girls. The urge to criticize and compliment would've been fulfilled on the same gender.....in good fun, of course. Although some of the girls were more genuine with their remarks.

Ding.

The bell caused everyone to go to their respective seats and finish lingering last words.

Yamato sighed as he let the weight of his head rest on his hand.

_I think today's the first day I finally felt a bit more normal. Even this stuff is getting routine now..... It feels weird, but so comforting at the same time. Maybe I could actually get adjusted-_

Tap. Tap.

Yamato's thoughts were interrupted by neat footsteps into the classroom.

_Oh fuck._

* * *

"I'm Makimura-sensei."

Wince.

"But you can all call me Kei if you want."

The class feedback was a bit more enthusiastic than usual.

Koushiro's hand grabbed his skirt in anxiety.

_Something's up. I know it. He's come to fuck us over._

Already in his head are countermeasures against what possibly could happen. Kei was by no means a part-time substitute. It would be highly improbable. This surprise appearance and visit was not out of good will.

* * *

Kei, dressed in black pants and a blue shirt of which has its first few buttons undone unorthodoxly, was going through each and every single student in the class for an introduction. His impression of being having a fun potential and looking, to the least, semi-decent has been viewed as godsend for most of the girls in the class.

Meanwhile, already a pool of sweat has formed on Ken's desk.

Though Kei has always been a symbol of good will and friendliness, his unnatural appearance could only hint at some devious scheme.

Possibly something as devious as this entire 'project'.

The girls, while chosen to give a brief intro about themselves along the row, made no attempt to hide their interest in the new novelty.

"Ah, that's great..." Kei looked down at his class list. "...Mika. Anything else you'd like to add?"

"Can I have your phone number?"

A riot. In agreement.

_Rather shameless._ Koushiro noted.

"Haha." Kei chuckled embarrassingly. "You'll have to earn it."

Koushiro squinted. _What was that supposed to mean?_

"Next...is Takeko."

Takeru looked up nervously. "Yes?"

"Anything you'd like to say about yourself?"

"No?"

"Oh. Okay. Next is..."

Blink.

Koushiro couldn't understand. Kei was clearly not a schoolteacher substitute. He clearly did not come here to help them, because he could do that without disguising himself by his usual radio contact.

But he did not try to make things difficult either.

* * *

"...okay. Then...Taiko."

Silence.

"Taiko?"

Everyone in Taichi's row had shifted themselves to the right, revealing a large bush of light brown hair flatly on the table.

"Zzz..."

Sleeping in class in the morning had always been some sort of a routine for Taichi, especially since he has the ability to abuse it, sitting in the back and all.

The girl in front of Taichi leaned backwards, seeming to want to tap his shoulders.

"Shh." Kei put his index finger in front of his lips, stopping the girl.

Walking to the chalkboard, he grabbed a fresh piece of chalk, and turned around and whipped it through the air.

Zipping past through all the girls who have cleared a path, the piece of chalk flies straight at the sleeping Taichi, leaving a white smoky trail in the air.

Taichi suddenly opens his eyes and rolled out of his seat to the left.

The piece of chalk missed, and embedded itself within the wall.

Kei raised his left hand, with four pieces of chalk between his fingers, and swiftly swung those at Taichi, who just got out of his seat.

Taichi agilely avoided each of those by slightly bending his body - his after shadows defining his movements - although one had penetrated a small hole in his skirt.

Continuing his swinging movement, Kei grabbed an entire box of chalk and threw that at Taichi with one motion.

A several dozen chalk penetrate the air and is aimed straight at Taichi. The wind around the chalks seems to bend and change, and create a sharp whiz sound as it darts by.

Taichi regained his stance and stood upright, then held out his right hand, palm facing outwards. His eyes light with determination as the barrage of projectiles fly closer.

* * *

"Taiko, please try to refrain from falling asleep in class again." Kei spoke meekly.

"Yes." Taichi, uniform covered in white dust and face swollen, replies and sits back onto the desk.

Koushiro sighs with relief. What just happened was, certainly, fucked up. But there was no mystery now. His intentions were as obvious as Koushiro had predicted.

"Next...Yamako." Kei moved along. Yamato sat in the front of the leftmost row.

Yamato was certainly in no mood for his silly games.

A quick dismissal.

"I don't-"

Suddenly, in the middle of a word, his voice dropped a couple thousand hertz. Yamato covered his mouth immediately.

"Right...moving on." Kei nervously said.

* * *

The rest of the class progressed normally. Discussions about communication between people happened. Though it's hardly grammar exercises, one could argue that it's an essential part of good Japanese.

Ring.

"Alright. That's all for now. Maybe we'll pick up where we left off next time if your teacher remains sick."

The sounds of over fifty feet on the floor.

"What happened?" Koushiro walked up to Yamato.

"I don't know. My voice converter thing stopped working." Yamato whispered in Koushiro's ear.

"What did nii-san say?" Takeru jumped over a desk by holding the two adjacent desks with his hands.

"Voice changer malfunction."

"That's no good." Ken said quietly, after looking around him that none of the other girls are too close to be able to hear.

"So the voice is like as it was?" Taichi asked again to reconfirm.

"Yeah." Yamato nodded.

Taichi raised his foot far back and then kicked Yamato right in the shin.

"!!" Yamato jerked, but bit his lips, since he can't scream. Especially not in his guy voice.

"Hahaha." It was obvious Taichi had found this situation infinitely amusing. Yamato gave him a don't-fuck-with-me death stare.

Taichi pulled his leg back again.

Then Yamato threw him out the window.

"Anyway, could you guys fix this? Koushiro? Ken?" Yamato continued.

"I don't think so... I'm only good with a computer." Ken apologetically replied.

"Me neither." Koushiro added. "My experience with hardware only goes to computers and common household electronics."

"Damn it." Yamato swore.

Takeru looked down from the shattered window, only hearing incoherent shouts, and making out something along the lines of "a glass shard in my liver" and "the fall broke my arm" and the sort.

Koushiro suspiciously eyed Kei, who was having conversations with girls as they exit the classroom. Too coincidental.

Ken gave a questioning stare. Koushiro nodded. They both knew it. But it was better to keep it to themselves for now, until they're sure of what's to happen.

"Can Taiko and Sora come over for a second? Then Yamako, please."

An exchange of glances.

Takeru shouted down from the window. "Tai-chan! Sensei wants you up here."

A pained "okay".

"What's going on?" Mimi asked, as the girls are about to leave the classroom.

"I don't know." Sora frowned. "I hope I didn't do anything wrong."

"Go and see. It might be nothing." Hikari said.

Sora nodded.

"I wonder what he's up to." Koushiro thought out loud.

"Plotting something, I bet." Yamato idly said. "Something utterly random that we won't have an idea what hit us."

Koushiro thought he was probably right. That Rumiko woman was merely a producer, but Kei is probably the 'director'. If he can think up as out of line as dressing teenage guys as girls then sending them off in an all girl school, then he could think up anything.

Taichi limped through the doorway.

"What?" Taichi asked, slightly irritated. Sora stood beside Kei, puzzled as ever.

"Well, I've looked through the grades of the class." Kei stated, staying relatively in role. "You seem to be doing the worst, or in fact, the only one failing."

It wasn't much of a surprise. Taichi certainly wasn't the brightest star in the sky. In fact, if Taichi was a star, and was given his own solar system, the planets that revolved around him would be brighter.

"Huh." The teacher tone of voice didn't appeal to Taichi too much.

"So, I was hoping that you would work a bit harder. The Sakura school has fairly high standards."

_Hardly something a substitute would say._ Koushiro thought.

"But, you might have a bit of trouble with catching up. I was thinking that Sora might be able to help you."

"Huh?" Sora looked shocked. "Well, I..."

"You're one of the best students in the school." Kei said. "If you do this, I will give you extra credits. You don't have to, of course. It's up to you. If you don't, we could find someone else."

_You're a sub. You don't have the power to do that. _Koushiro accused in his mind.

"Oh, no, you don't have to give me-"

"If you don't want to, that's completely alright." Kei said before she finished.

"Oh, no, that's not what I meant." Sora quickly answered.

"Great. You two can set up the time and stuff." Kei finished, satisfied. "And Yamako?"

Getting up from his seat, Yamato walked indifferently over.

"Come. Follow me." Kei walked out the door and Yamato reluctantly followed.

"What was that all about?" Takeru wondered.

"Hmm." Ken responded.

"Was that a good hmm or bad hmm?"

"That was a thinking hmm."

"Hurry up, Sora-chan!" Miyako waved.

"Coming!"

* * *

Yamato was getting impatient as he was led through the hallway. Certainly, he would complain. But he refrained from using his voice when surrounded by girls on both sides. Finally, through the stairs, hallways, doors, and teleport platforms, he arrived at the courtyard.

The empty, silent courtyard.

"What the fuck are we doing here?" Yamato bursted.

"Geez, keep your panties in a bunch." Kei casually retorted. He had broken out of his teacher character. "Open your mouth."

"What?"

"Your voice changer. Me. Fix." Kei pointed.

"Ah." Yamato scratched his head, then obediently opened his mouth.

Kei peeked into his mouth, then pulled out a small screwdriver from under his sleeve.

"What the hell? You keep stuff like that around?" Yamato mumbled indistinctly with his mouth open.

"Never know when it comes in handy. Like now. The battery's just loose." Kei swung his arm again, and a small flashlight appeared at his sleeve, which he turns on, suspended onto his sleeve.

"Hold still now."

"Okay, Doraemon."

"Now...just move this a bit..."

"Ow! Watch where you're poking."

"Sorry. Just a bit more... Stop moving." Kei used his hands to hold Yamato's face still and looked closer.

"Look, Nanami-chan." A girl peeking from the window to the courtyard said.

Nanami curiously dashed over and looked. Then blushed.

From the angle, it seemed like the taboo teacher-student relationship was happening. Although they could only see the back of Yamato and his long hair, and the slightly taller Kei's face, which had descended into Yamato's, it seemed pretty obvious. At first there seemed to be a bit of struggle, then Yamato just seemed to accept it.

"Oh my!" Nanami was certainly excited. "Let's go tell Hinako-chan!"

"Mm!"

"God, are you do-"

A small mechanical 'err' sound.

"-ne yet?" Yamato slowly finished, with his regained alto voice.

"Wow. It works." Yamato said, although he was slightly disappointed. He did like his guy voice, and was hoping to keep it slightly longer.

"I've got to get to my next class."

* * *

"Hinako-chan!" Nanami sprinted up to her. "You won't believe it!"

"What?" Hinako said while rearranging her textbooks.

"That girl, Yamako, that just came in recently-"

* * *

"And you know that new sub, Makimura-sensei?" Hinako continued. "Well, they-"

* * *

"-were in the courtyard together, right?" Mika said excitedly, then paused for a short while. "And they were holding each other, and then-"

* * *

"-I saw them kissing!" Rika stared away from her friends guiltily. Of course, she didn't actually see it, but a quaternary source is just as good as a primary source. "Anyway-"

* * *

"-I think there were tongues." Kagura said, resulting in a series of teenage overreaction. "Then-"

* * *

"They did it in the courtyard?!" Takeru sprayed. His juice was everywhere.

"That's what I heard." Hikari dubiously said and handed Takeru a tissue.

Takeru considered the validity of that statement. Certainly, knowing that Yamato is actually male makes it more improbable. Then again, there _had_ been rumours about him swinging that way. Some fangirls had taken it upon themselves to write a couple shounen-ai fanfics (though some had taken it even farther) between Yamato and Hajime...and sometimes with other band members as well, or some other famous figure. The possibilities stretch.

"Er." Takeru began. "It's probably just some stupid gossip."

"You're probably right."

Takeru desperately hoped.

* * *

"Hey." Taichi ran to catch up to Yamato. They were both already in their gym shorts and white shirts. Rather than changing in the locker room and try to shoo the other girls away or try to find some hidden spot to change, they found it easier to change beforehand.

"Hey." Yamato looked back, then resumed walking.

"How was he?"

"How was what?"

"I heard that you had hot gay sex in the courtyard." Taichi nonchalantly said.

Suddenly, a spark ignited in Yamato's eyes. His rage fed him infinite amounts of energy.

"WHAT THE FUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCKK??!$!"

And the universe imploded.

The end.

* * *

Disgust struck Yamato's face.

"You again."

"What's wrong?" Kei exclaimed with a fake hurt face.

"Touda-sensei is absent today too?" Yamato wondered in disbelief. "Maybe you just tied them up and locked them in a closet or something."

"Hahaha." Kei chuckled, amused. "Don't be silly."

* * *

Ms. Touda had already banged her head against the door so many times that it hurts. Defeated, she slumped against the door and sat down next to Ms. Kamiya.

* * *

"Anyway, if you've changed then go sit on the bench and wait." Kei crossed his arms.

Yamato threw an angry glare and walked away.

"What's with him?"

"Well." Taichi scratched his head and hesitated. "It's like..."

Then he whispers it into Kei's ear.

Blink.

"So, yeah."

"Oh. That didn't happen."

"Really?" Taichi narrowed his eyes. Of course, Taichi, knowing Yamato, knew that it didn't happen.

"Uh-huh."

"Riiiiiiight." Taichi said sarcastically, then went off to join Yamato.

* * *

Yamato found himself running tirelessly on the track. Taichi was also with him. Takeru and Ken found themselves mingling with the girls as they're running. Koushiro, although he didn't choose to be behind, lack the athletic skill to keep up. Nonetheless, they found themselves to be in another lively conversation with signature squeals.

A lot more fitter girls had already had a one lap lead on them. Oddly enough, "run 20 laps around the track" not only didn't discourage the girls, but rather encouraged them to prove themselves in front of the new sub.

It was his fifth lap, and Yamato already felt the fatigue build.

Squeak.

"What are you doing? You still have plenty of laps." Kei raised his head to meet Yamato on the finish line, alert from the sound of stopping rubber on the cement.

"Why don't you get off your ass and join me on the track?" Yamato said mockingly.

"Is that what you want?"

"Are you gonna do it?"

* * *

Taichi looks to the left at Yamato, then to the right at Kei.

"What the fuck is he doing?" Taichi asked.

"Don't ask me." Yamato glanced across at Kei moving smoothly along. The more he saw, the more Yamato wanted to hit himself in the head just so he could pass out.

"Hey, don't slow down." Kei shouted out from his window, then turned the steering wheel slightly as the track starts to curve.

Yamato seriously wondered why nobody notices when Kei's being such an ass.

"Taichi. Kick his car for me." Yamato said calmly.

Taichi shrugged, then ran, jumped up, and landed a spin kick right on the door, denting it in.

Kei seemed to have notice, but he didn't give any attention to it.

Taichi ran back to catch up with Yamato. "Why didn't you do it yourself?"

"Because if he wants someone to pay for it, it's going to be you."

"Ah."

* * *

The morning had tired Yamato out.

_Fuck this. I'm just going to skip the rest of the day and stay up here._

Here, was the rooftop. It was one of the less visited places in the school. If anyone wanted to go out, they could've easily cruised around the outdoor gardens, which is almost always lovely.

Yamato sighed and then lied down, with his hands behind his head to support it. His hair clumsily folds itself along the ground.

He always found himself staring at the sky when he's here. It's the only thing to look at here. It's as if, oddly enough, the sky has brought itself closer.

The gossip had probably spread around school.

Gulp.

Since his dry lunch he didn't drink anything.

Flipping open his cell phone, he scrolled down to Takeru's name.

_I'll just call him to get me a drink._

His thumb reached for the big button in the middle, but hesitated.

Flip.

_He probably can't answer his cell in front of the teacher anyway._

The little gadget installed in his mouth wasn't an option either, since it required Kei to route the connection back in who-knows-where, and he certainly isn't there.

Sigh.

An icy feeling fell on his forehead. He reached for the cylinder can and grabbed it.

"Mmm...Take-"

Sora stood up, having to crouch down to hand Yamato the soda.

Yamato quickly stood up, surprised to see it was Sora, and having realized that when she stood up he was looking straight up her skirt.

"-Sora. Hey. What are you doing here?"

"To hand you a soda." Sora smiled.

"Oh." Yamato looked at the can. Lemon. Lemon had always agreed with him; it was soft and mellow tasting, in a way.

"Takeko-chan wanted to come up here, but she seemed too indulged in her conversation with Hikari-chan, so I volunteered."

"Ah." Yamato nodded. It had easily explained everything.

Yamato retreated a few steps back and then sat on the floor, resting his back against the railing.

Sora walked up beside Yamato.

"Mind if I sit here?"

"Go ahead."

Sora slowly crouched down, then pulled on her skirt to make sure that it lies on the ground and covers most of her legs when she sits.

"Don't you have to go back to class?" Yamato peered over.

"Sensei was missing today." Sora let out a small breath. "Makimura-sensei gave us a study class."

"Huh." Yamato had a small snicker. "I wonder how many grown adults you can fit into the janitor's closet."

"Hmm?"

"Oh, nothing. I was just talking to myself." Yamato popped open his soda and poured it into his mouth.

"Oh, here." Yamato reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a 100 yen coin, then placed it on Sora's hand.

"It's okay." Sora offered it back.

"Nah. I can't."

Sora nodded and closed her fist on the coin.

Silence.

Sigh.

"Rough day?" Sora began to inquire.

"I guess." Yamato tilted his head back and stared at the sky.

"I've heard some things."

"Huh." Yamato turned his head to look at Sora. "Do you believe them?"

"I don't think Yamako-chan would do something like that. Especially not in the school." Sora responded. "You're too cool for that."

'Too cool' somehow struck out to Yamato. He began to chuckle, then it grew into amused laughter.

"What? Did I say something?" Sora cluelessly asked.

"It was nothing. Never mind."

Silence.

"What are you doing up here anyway? Even during the study block the model student should be in class."

"I'm not the model student." Sora retorted, slightly offended by the idea, or perhaps the unintended implication of having her going back to class. "Besides, it's too noisy back in the classroom anyway."

"Ah." Yamato nodded. "Stay here, then."

It was more silence after. It was comforting silence, with the slight hum of the breeze. Yamato was never the best conversationalist. Nor did he want to say a word.

So he didn't.

* * *

Yamato woke up to a soft, though considerably heavy weight on his shoulder.

He turned his head, nervously expecting it to be Sora, but saw a head of blond messy hair.

"Gah!" Yamato moved his body aside.

"Dammit." Takeru rubbed his head at the spot which contacted the ground.

"Why are you here?" Yamato stared at the sky again. It seemed slightly brighter. "What time is it?"

Takeru flipped out his phone and looked at the screen. "2:45."

"That was quite a bit." Yamato looked strangely at Takeru. "Tell me why you're here again."

"Keeping you company. I saw Sora-chan run to class, so I figured you'd be alone."

Yamato rubbed Takeru's head in a very big-brother manner, then proceed to mess his hair even further.

"Then what are you doing out of class?"

"Teacher's absent again."

"Huh." Yamato said pensively. "I would think the janitor would check that closet once in a while."

* * *

"Mmm! Mmm!" The janitor, tied up and sealed with tape, mumbled as he crashed against the door again and again.

* * *

"What'd you say?"

"It was nothing."

"You better not go back down there." Takeru put on a worried face. "Not now, especially. They're all looking for you. ...Probably not later, either."

"...Don't you want to ask me what happened?"

"No, I probably know what happened." Takeru nodded sympathetically. "Kei pulled out his charms, and you couldn't resist, and-"

Punch.

"Ow. Just kidding." Takeru mumbled as he pulled himself out of the cement wall part of the stairway.

"Why are people looking for me anyway?" Yamato grumbled and slammed his fist onto the railing.

"Rumours spread pretty quickly. Especially since it was over the public announcement."

Vein pop.

"What?" Yamato said in disbelief, and covered his face with his hands. "Never mind."

Takeru tied a rope around Yamato, then enforced it with a couple knots.

"What are you doing?"

"You have to get out of here. Now." Takeru said as he struggles with the rope. "And you can't get out from downstairs either. So you'll have to get down from here."

"Isn't that a bit extreme?" Yamato scoffed.

Takeru frowned. He took out a life size Yamako doll and threw it far into the oval track below.

Screams.

Crowding.

Explosion.

Takeru caught the doll's head as it flew up weakly from the explosion.

"Yeah, let's do it your way."

"There isn't anything up here I can tie this to." Takeru thought out loud as he played around with the other end of the rope. "I'll be the anchor." Takeru tied the other end to himself.

"That's too dangerous." Yamato complained, and looked around for any possible places to attach the rope.

"It'll be okay. I'll hold on to something safe, like the railing." Takeru's expression grew serious. "Go."

Kick.

And Yamato flew down the building at 9.8 m/s².

* * *

Yamato grunted at the wind and air resistance tearing at his face as he tried to keep his eyes open.

Blink.

A good amount of girls had already grouped right below Yamato.

Waiting readily, like piranhas.

* * *

"So, see here." Koushiro wrote down a couple more equations. "Kei's sudden appearance is a delusional escape from this school's mostly female and ugly male setting."

"I see." Ken nodded, punching in numbers in the calculator as Koushiro's pencil moves along.

"And...from what we've heard, the rumours will upset many girls. The sudden stop of their squealing must be transformed into some other form of energy, according to the conversation of energy. Now, let's call the difference in squealing energy 'delta S'."

"...And the resulting eruption of energy, delta H, will be the negative of that." Ken finished.

"Right. If we take into account of...let's estimate half of the girls at school. With their anger and rage as spark...if all their destructive energy was to be released at the same time..." Koushiro looked over to Ken as he entered the rest of the numbers into the calculator.

"My god." Ken's eyes were grave. "This could be the end of the world."

"Well, thankfully, there's very little chance that all of those girls will gather together and release all their energy at the same time."

"Haha, you're right." Ken laughed, relieved, then Koushiro joined in at the absurdity of their thoughts.

Both their eyes widened as they see Yamato flying down outside their window.

* * *

"Crap." Yamato muttered as he sees the mob below him.

The last time he saw a group of girls that eager was the last time his band had held a mini concert and he took his shirt off on stage. That time, the girls desperately wanted to rip his clothes apart.

This time, the girls want to rip him apart.

With a hard kick towards the wall, Yamato pushed himself towards the exit of the school, which meets the busy road. Streaking across the sky, Yamato found himself landing on the hood of a silver sports car.

"Get in." Kei waved.

Jump.

Vroom.

The car speeded out of there with a tight turn around the corner, and a gang of girls chasing.

"Holy fuck." Yamato began to imagine the massacre that could've been if he had landed around those girls.

"What the hell do you think you're doing anyway?" Yamato glared angrily.

"Saving your ass?" Kei spoke casually as he rotated the steering wheel.

"Stuff like the announcement over the PA?"

"Oh yeah. My bad."

Yamato suddenly realized that they were heading towards a sharp curve at 80 km/h.

"Slow down!" Yamato shouted.

Kei just grinned.

"Dorrrrriiiiifutooo" Kei pulled quickly on the steering wheel and quickly worked the clutch and brake, with a shift in the gear.

The car slid along the curve smoothly at high speed, then travelled normally in the upcoming straight lane.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Yamato was sweating, thinking that he was almost killed.

"Don't worry. I've had practice."

"Practice?"

"Yeah. I watch Initial D all the time."

Yamato smashed Kei's head through the windshield.

"Wait. If this is your car, then whose car was it that you drove before?"

* * *

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" Mr. Yamada screamed as he saw a huge dent in the door of his car, still on lease.

* * *

"Where are we going?" Yamato eyed at Kei, slightly annoyed.

"You'll see." Kei said with a smirk. "You'll see."

Yamato sighed, and laid back on the soft leather seat, but stopped when he felt serious discomfort around his waist.

Rope.

Turn.

Yamato watched in shock and horror as Takeru, who was still attached on the other side of the rope, was bouncing lifelessly up and down the cement road, and occasionally dragged.

Quickly untying the rope, Yamato threw it away, and watched as Takeru's body finally settled down, lying on the road. Though not moving.

A large stream of anime tears went down Yamato's face.

_I'm so sorry. I'll make it up to you somehow._

* * *

"Ugggggh." Taichi stretches his hands straight out at the ring of the bell. "Finally. What a tiring day."

Koushiro looked disapprovingly at Taichi. "You didn't even do anything today. You were just slacking the whole day because there was no teacher."

"Hey." Taichi pointed a finger at Koushiro. "Playing cards is tiring, okay?"

Koushiro placed a hand on top of Taichi's shoulder as he got up and left.

"Don't forget that you've got a date."

* * *

"So. Where are we now?"

Kei parked on the side of an unfamiliar street.

Yamato glanced to his side.

People. Lots.

Women. Lots.

Stores. Lots.

"I don't suppose you want to take me shopping." Yamato narrowed his eyes.

"Yep."

Tug.

* * *

"Um." Taichi stumbled around each classroom, taking a short peek inside.

Sora had told Taichi the room number before, but, being horrible with numbers, each digit just seemed the same to him.

_Shit. I'm..._

Glance.

_Twenty minutes late._

It seemed that everyone – students and teachers – were quite eager to leave. Barely half an hour after school ended, and the building seems deserted.

Shuffle.

"Ah, there you are." Sora smiled, turning her face to the door from her textbook.

The closed curtains in the room cast a dim shadow on her face. She sat in the middle of the arranged seats. It was almost as if people still were there. But their images disappeared just as quickly, and only Sora was left sitting there.

Taichi stood in the doorway, dumbfounded. A blush crept up his face, but his expression showed nothing of embarrassment.

"You know." Sora said idly, half to Taichi, half to herself. "I've always liked this room. At this time of day, it feels like sunset-"

"_-feels like sunset." A small girl with chin length hair in a long white dress said._

"_It's not sunset yet." Taichi said, staring at the coral sun. "Almost sunset. But not sunset yet."_

"_I want to see the sunset." The little girl said as she crouched and cupped her face in her tiny hands._

"_Next time, dear. We have to go now."_

"_But, 'kaa-san!" The girl pouted._

"_Next time, dear. Next time."_

_The four of them walk along the beach. Their shadows grew slightly taller at the retreating sun. The little girl ran up to where the water and sand were separated._

"_Umi-san! Taiyou-san! I'll come back next time! I promise!" She shouted through her hands, then ran back._

_Thump._

"_Itaiiiiii." She held her ankle while sitting on the ground._

"_Get on." Taichi crouched down next to her, in a piggy-back position._

"_Un."_

_Sniff._

_Each step Taichi took was significantly heavier. He wasn't very strong yet. He held her sandals with his two fingers while trying his best not to let her fall._

"..._Thank you, nii-san." She whispered and hugged Taichi a little tighter._

_Taichi felt his face getting red._

"_Be more careful next time, ......-chan."_

"...Tai-chan? Tai-chan?" Sora repeated, raising her volume each time.

"Um...huh." Taichi recovered from his blank eyes. "Sorry."

_What was that..._

"Well. Let's get started." Sora patted at the seat that she moved her desk next to.

"Right."

* * *

Yamato blinked.

Before he knew it, dozens of different clothes were put on him.

They were clothes shopping. At an alarming rate.

"Mmm...okay." Kei nodded approvingly and spun Yamato around. Yamato stared at the mirror.

Something was significantly different. Something he couldn't quite put a hand on.

Reach.

His hair was short.

His chest was flat.

Yamato stared in awe as he saw himself. His hair was the cool acute style, unlike the high maintenance long dragging-on-the-floor hair he had. His padded bra was gone. He no longer wore a skirt that forced him to reveal his legs (pretty as they were). He was wearing a thin white top which has a collar so wide that it almost spread to his shoulders. And matching black jeans.

"You-" Yamato spun back around to face Kei, then covered his mouth. His voice was back, too. The device was taken out without him knowing it.

Kei put on a knowing, kind smile.

"..." Yamato turned back to the mirror and continued to admire himself.

A thought occurred.

Kei could probably violate a woman really fast. So fast that they might not know.

"Well. Looks pretty good, doesn't it?" Kei took a few steps around Yamato and looked a bit closer.

"I'll say." Yamato analyzed his clothing intently. "The top seems a bit...slutty, though."

"Says volumes about you, doesn't it?" Kei said.

"What?" Yamato turned back around.

"Nothing, whore." Kei said quickly, then gave the girl a look. "We'll take it."

"What?!" Yamato blasted at Kei. "I can't afford this!"

"That'll be 45,000 yen." The girl politely said.

Yamato sprayed blood.

"It's okay. I'll pay for it." Kei reached into his back pocket and pulled out a wallet.

"You know, while we're at it, I've always wanted to look for a hat."

"Go wait outside."

* * *

"So, if you take this..."

"Uh-huh."

"And we'll call this x, and that y..."

"Uh-huh."

"And by differentiating by x..."

"Uh-huh."

"We would be left with constants, x's, and dy/dx's."

"Yep."

"So you got what I was saying?" Sora asked, finishing a couple notes on Taichi's notebook.

"Um. Sort of." Taichi caught certain words. He found his glance would sometimes float away to Sora's face, but then regain attention. Of course, he had no idea what she was talking about, but he did hear her.

"Why don't you try it now?" Sora suggested.

"Uh." Taichi sweatdropped. "Okay."

"Try the one I just showed you."

"Alright." Taichi looked at the question. It was ridiculously complex. The amount of numbers and letters and superscripts combined together was an overload for Taichi's brain. None of them made any sense. Taichi gripped his pencil hard.

"Oh!" Taichi looked surprised. "Look over there!"

Point.

"Where?" Sora followed Taichi's pointing.

"Okay, done." Taichi hands the book back to her.

"Okay. Let's see..." Sora scanned down the paper.

"Isn't this my writing?"

* * *

"So what are we doing here?" Yamato questioned.

The dark elevator continued downwards.

"I called your band members and told them to meet you here."

"What? Why?" Yamato raised his voice. Kei's forced influence on his life was pissing him off.

"Seguchi wanted you and them to do a little gathering. Some practice. 'Music development', whatever that means." Kei went on. "So I brought you here."

"..." Yamato looked at Kei as if he was growing horns out of his head. "You made me go through all that. Just because. You wanted to bring me here."

"Well, I had to make things interesting along the way."

_Kill him. Kill him. It's an elevator. There aren't any security cameras. There's no one here. It's secluded. No one will ever know._

"Here we are." Kei answered cheerfully at the elevator's ding.

Yamato looked outside the retracted doors. It was huge.

There was one big rectangular stage. And tens of thousands of seats.

Yamato's heart skipped a beat just from looking.

Only a few lights had been turned on to maintain the place, but Yamato could very well see what the place was like.

"Teenage Wolves. Summer Concert. '02." Kei said. "You'll be up there, on the stage soon."

Yamato looked up at the stage, and imagined himself on there. It almost made him not regret being forced into the contract with NG.

Sigh.

Kei patted Yamato on the back. "Don't worry. We'll make you famous. Everyone will know Ishida Yamato first, and Yamako-chan second."

"Any chance of them not knowing Yamako-chan at all?" Yamato peered up at Kei.

"Sorry. You know how the deal is."

Kick.

Stumble.

Yamato, surprised and on the ground, looked at Kei.

"See you in a couple hours." Kei waved happily as the elevator doors closed shut.

Step.

Step.

Step.

Yamato looked back over his shoulders.

Three pairs of evil red eyes. Illuminated in the dark.

"Yamato..."

"Where the hell have you been..."

"Give my time back to me, give..."

Each their words were ended with a hiss.

Yamato pounded on the call elevator button.

* * *

It has been 10 minutes.

Taichi was stalling. His pencil has been hovering over the paper, and as Sora evidently being someone more patient, nothing has happened.

He, who said that he understood what she said.

She, who waits for proof.

Grumble.

Taichi looked down at his stomach. It has been an hour past his snack time.

An exchange of looks.

"Um. I'm gonna go buy something to eat." Taichi stood up and pointed at the door.

Sora pushed him back down.

"You stay here and finish this."

Shuffle.

Taichi let out a great sigh and let his face fall flat on the desk.

_Oh God. This is killing me. I'm never going to get this._

Taichi stretched, and jumped to the window.

Waving off the white curtains with his arm, he put his head out the window and stared.

"Help me!" Taichi screamed out the window.

Moving into the front-center of the room, Taichi gathered his energy, and reached behind him into the hyper dimension of hammerspace, and pulled out a soccer ball. He was sweating. The sheer effort for a male to even attempt to reach into hammerspace is exuberant, but to store and retrieve is a whole other level.

Taichi threw the ball up in the air excitedly and juggled it skilfully, never once letting the ball touch the ground, nor hit the ceiling. Just before the ball reached the ground, Taichi volleyed it straight into the door, which vibrated greatly as the ball bounced back, and Taichi repeated. Each shot at the door was harder than the last. Another shot.

Shuffle.

"Look out!"

Sora took a small jump back and swung her foot right into the incoming ball.

Bang.

The ball came right back at Taichi and blew his head off. Then sent his remaining body bouncing all over the room.

Taichi regenerated his head.

"I'm so sorry!" Sora apologized. "That must've been a reflex!"

"That's okay." Taichi said, lying down, with a huge dent in his face. Eye candy was a good pain reliever.

"And I got you something to eat from the vending machine." Sora held out two colourful packs.

"Huh. A treat _and_ sweets." Taichi mumbled to himself.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing." Taichi jumped up to reach for the candy.

Sora held it behind her back.

"Let's see how you did first."

* * *

They ended with a chord. It was a slightly dissonant, slightly distorted chord, but it fitting.

"Okay. That was pretty good." Yamato said through his slightly swollen lips. The other three members had agreed to avoid the face as much as possible, but an occasional kick was misdirected.

"Great." Hajime lightly touched the strings with his hand, silencing his guitar completely. "We still need some new songs, though."

"I'm working on them." Yamato quickly said, attempting to dismiss the issue.

"Actually..." Takayuki mentioned. "Hajime and I are in the process of writing a few songs."

"Yeah." Hajime said. "They still need some work, but we'll get it all polished up soon."

"It doesn't matter." Koichi taps his drumsticks together. "Those bastards down at NG said that they'll help us find songwriters to fill in what we don't have enough of."

"They said that?" Yamato turned around, surprised.

"Yeah. They visited a few times." Takayuki adjusts his glasses.

"Well..." Yamato starts to unplug his bass guitar.

"Yo, fucker." Koichi exclaimed rather loudly. "Give us something to reach you by."

Yamato looked at him. It was a difficult request, but it was definitely something they were upset over.

"Okay." Yamato took out a piece of paper and wrote down a number. "You can reach me through this cell. But sometimes it's not me, so you have to say who you are and ask for me."

"What-"

"Don't ask."

"Yamatooooo" A cheerful voice echoes through the stadium.

"Oh boy." Yamato covers his eyes in embarrassment.

Kei walked calmly down the stairs.

"It's time to go."

"Who are you?" Hajime accusingly asks.

"I'm Yamato's..." Kei puts his arms around Yamato's neck. "Gay lover."

Lifting up his bass with both hands, Yamato smashed it right in Kei's face.

"He's my uncle." Yamato corrected.

"What?! Fuck that! I'm only twenty-"

And Yamato dragged Kei off.

* * *

"Mmm." Yamato spreads his arms back.

"How was it?" Kei inquires.

"It was..." Yamato tried to think of a fitting word. "Nice."

"Well, that's good." Kei took out a bag of clothes. "You have to change back to your sailor suit now."

"What?! No!" Yamato puts his arms defensively around himself. "I'm not going back into that thing!"

Splash.

"What's this?" Yamato, confused, asked. Drenched, his hair hung down with more strands, and his white top became apparently see-through.

"Who the hell do you think I am? Ranma?"

Kei did not reply to that, and simply stood there.

"Hey."

Yamato turned around to reply the tap on his shoulder.

A thirty-something businesswoman.

"How much for one night?"

Yamato looked down at himself again, and confirmed that, indeed, with what was revealed, he looked like an advertising whore.

Yamato glared at Kei.

"Give me the fucking bag."

* * *

"Yes, you've done it!" Sora applauded.

Taichi grinned triumphantly. This particular math problem became an obstacle that Taichi had defeated. Especially after seeing Sora do it for about a dozen times, then memorizing each of the steps she wrote down.

"Okay. Let's stop for today." She took her book and closed it up.

Taichi rose with a satisfactory smile and proceeded to the door.

"So, is Thursday good for you?"

Taichi froze.

"What?"

"I said, is Thursday good for you?"

"What?"

* * *

_Half an hour later..._

"Is Thursday a day of which you can come?"

"...Yeah." Taichi finally fell out of shock, though still stunned slightly.

Taichi did not dislike Sora at all. However, learning is absolutely against him. Learning was absorbing information. However, absorbing too much information would blow Taichi's brain. Learning to Taichi is like being pushed off a cliff along with a basket of grenades and cobras, even though the grenades would kill the cobras before they reach him.

Shuffle.

But he was glad. Slightly.

* * *

"Hey." Yamato tilted his head lazily, keeping it rested on the headrest.

"What?" Kei said, tranquilly. It was almost as if he was stoned.

"Do me a favour."

* * *

Taichi opened the door.

They were all inside – Takeru, Ken, Koushiro. No Yamato.

All of them smitten and watching TV on the couch with Hikari, Miyako, and Mimi.

"Hey, you're back." Miyako checked over her shoulder. "Tai-chan and Sora-chan."

Hikari turned around completely on the couch. "So where were you guys?"

"Oh. Sora-chan was helping me with schoolwork and stuff."

The three boys shared a questioning look.

"Um. Tai-chan." Koushiro walked across the room to Taichi, and lifted his hand to Taichi's forehead. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." Taichi pushed his hand away. "I'm kinda tired. I'll be in my room."

Koushiro looked strangely as Taichi walked away.

His hand. Burning hot.

* * *

"Done?"

"Yeah." Yamato confirms as he jumps back in the car and lays back on the seat. "You know."

"Yeah?" Kei starts the car up and accelerates.

"I really like this seat." Yamato closed his eyes.

* * *

A middle aged man opens the door after he unlocked it.

"Yeah. I'll probably be able to do it tomorrow." He speaks into his cell phone as he turns on the light switch, and throws his keys onto the counter right next to the entrance.

"Are you sure? You've gone overtime for nearly everyday this week. Are you sure you want to handle this project?" The cell phone sounded back.

"..." The man squinted at the foreign piece of paper rested on the counter.

"Ishida-san? Hello? Are you there?"

"Yeah, uh. You know what, give it to Noboru or something. He seems eager."

"Oh? Well, if you insist."

"Yeah. And I'm gonna take tomorrow off too." And he ended the call with a button.

He took the piece of paper with him to the couch and sat down and turned on the TV.

_Otou-san,_

_I've cleaned up the place. It's a mess. I heard that you got your job back. Don't work too hard. You know how you can be, getting stressful over your job. Give yourself a break sometime. I've just came by for a quick visit. I'll be gone when you're back. And don't be a prick and give mom a call sometime._

_P.S. I've confiscated your beer. You drink too much. It's bad for your liver._

_Take care,_

_Yamato_

"Geez, what the hell am I supposed to drink now?"

* * *

"Hmm." Gabu closed his eyes against the light spring breeze that blew in through the opening of the door. "Now's a good time for a walk."

Gabu opened the door to find a surprise.

"Gah!" Gabu cried out.

"Gah!" Yamato opened his eyes, then did the same. "Why the hell are you upside down?"

"Why the hell are _you_ upside down?" Gabu looked at Yamato, hung from both legs.

_The last I remember...I slept in Kei's car...oh fuck._

"Get someone to get me down."

"Okay." Gabu walked back in and searched for other people.

"Hurry up!" Yamato rushed.

"I have short legs."

* * *

"Oh, thank god Gabu came to get us." Mimi said as she climbs up a chair to untie Yamato. "Who did this to you?"

"A cruel and unusual being." Yamato answered.

"I got her." Taichi walked below Yamato and reached out his hands.

"Wait, let me, too." Ken ran up.

"In three..."

Crash.

"Oops."

"Never mind." Taichi waved it off.

They all got up. Suddenly, the girls, except for Sora, surrounded Yamato.

"W-what?" Yamato stuttered. They seemed to be waiting some sort of answer. "Oh. It didn't happen."

They seemed relieved at the dismissal of the rumour, but even more so, Yamato read, disappointed.

"Come in. Dinner's about to be ready." Sora said from the inside.

"Okay." They chorused.

"Why are you walking like a penguin?" Taichi observed. This was true, Yamato was walking by tilting his body and moving his leg very little.

"Fucker super-glued my skirt to my legs when he hung me upside down." Yamato stated, pissed off. "So that my skirt won't hang upside down."

* * *

"Ne, Yamato." Taichi said as he shuffled around in his blanket.

"What?" Yamato responded, showing a lack of interest in his voice.

"Um." Taichi thought for a while. "You know. About Sora."

"What about Sora?"

"What if..." Taichi closed his eyes. "You know what. Never mind."

Yamato was pensive. "You like her, don't you?"

No answer.

With a sigh, Yamato also closed his eyes for a sleepless night and an early morning.

* * *

Tuduku. 


End file.
